A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defense

“My personal feeling is that citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to lay the basis for more meaningful democracy.”—Noam Chomsky

“Exercising intellectual self-defense is an act of citizenship. It is what has motivated me to write this little book, which offers exactly this: an introduction to critical thinking.”—Normand Baillargeon

What is the relationship between democracy and critical thinking? What must a citizen in a democracy know to make the word democracy meaningful? In A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defense, radical pedagogue Normand Baillargeon trains readers to think, deconstruct, and ask the necessary questions to protect themselves from the manipulations of government, “authorities,” and other elites. Whether the issue be the call to what we’re told will be a bloodless war, the “debate” around Intelligent Design, understanding a government military expenditure, or simply reading the news, Baillargeon teaches readers to evaluate information and sort fact from official and media spin. In the spirit of advocates of critical thinking from every age, and including the famed late scientist Carl Sagan’s “Baloney Detection Kit” and George Orwell’s views on the political uses and abuses of language, this vivid, accessible primer empowers readers to take their education as citizens into their own hands.

Normand Baillargeon is a professor of education fundamentals at the University of Québec in Montreal, where he teaches on the history of pedagogy and the philosophy of education.