Disp_Know_Evid – The Mindful Manager

DISPOSITION TOWARDS KNOWLEDGE AND EVIDENCE

To become Practically Wise one must develop a certain ‘Disposition towards Knowledge & Evidence’ – you must become CCcritical.

*You must become Critical with a ‘big C’

The Mindful Manager understands that knowledge, reality and truth are not simple conceptions, and that objectivity is a pursuit not a possibility. S/he must be questioning of the crucial assumptions we often make in this arena. The philosophical position of one who aspires to be practically wise is appropriately the one that has come to be termed pragmatism. For pragmatists there are no truths; there only beliefs for which people may, or may not, give justifications.
Beyond this philosophical sensitivity the Mindful Manager must also be mindful of the super-ordinate framing/global assumptions that found the ideologies that dominate our thinking – particularly in the domain of business – Science, Economics, Money, Markets and Capitalism.

*You must become Critical with a ‘middle C’

Mindful of the strengths, weaknesses and founding assumptions of the perspectives and arguments that dominate what is said/written about management and business in the academic and popular discourses.

*You must become critical, with a ‘little C’

Critical in your thinking: you must be highly competent in the construction and de-construction of arguments.

The last element of criticality noted above arises in many guises. You will often see it termed Critical Thinking, Analytical Thinking & Argumentation. In this module, we will use its more ancient, but everyday label – Reasoning – as it is all about that – having reasons for and against things – you should buy our product not their’s because…, we should invest in this country because…, etc. etc. It is the most fundamental of the three capabilities that you must develop in your pursuit of Practical Wisdom. [Reasoning Capability]

In this area – ‘Disposition towards Knowledge & Evidence’, we focus on developing ‘big C’ and ‘middle C’ criticality. If you are to be practically wise you must come to understand both the epistemic and intellectualist fallacies – the contention that there could be such a thing as a social ‘science’, and that the outputs of this academic endeavour could un-problematically inform our practice and choices.

To accelerate your pursuit of practical wisdom, learn more by engaging with further material, guidance and resources in the Members’ Area.