The importance of progressive and constructive criticism in national and international affairs

 

The importance of progressive and constructive criticism in national and international affairs

Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Let us being this blog post by discussing what criticism is at the very outset. Criticism broadly means two things. Firstly, it may mean the expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of his or its perceived faults, lacunae or mistakes. Alternatively, It may also be taken to mean the analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work. There are of course, many different types of criticisms. Let us now briefly review the different types of criticism. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response.Criticism falls into several overlapping types including "theoretical, practical, impressionistic, affective, prescriptive, or descriptive"

We also then have Literary criticism. As a genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. Another important type of criticism is the criticism of religion. Criticism of religion involves criticism of the validity, concept, or ideas of religion. Historical records of criticism of religion go back to at least 5th century BCE in ancient Greece, in Athens specifically, with Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos. In ancient Rome, an early known example is Lucretius' De rerum natura from the 1st century BCE.

We must also discuss the criticsm of science here, and at least in passing. Criticism of science addresses problems within science in order to improve science as a whole and the role played by it in critiquing and improving society. Criticisms may also come from philosophy, from social movements like feminism, and from within science itself. The emerging field of metascience seeks to increase the quality of and efficiency of scientific research by improving the scientific process. Metascience is the study of science using scientific methods to improve the quality and efficiency of scientific research. Metascience is a growing movement that involves academics, governments, and other institutions.

What is the difference between critique versus criticism? In the French and in Italian languages, there is no difference between critique and criticism. In the English language, philosopher Gianni Vattimo suggests that criticism is used more frequently to denote literary criticism or art criticism while critique refers to more general writing such as Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Another distinction that is sometimes made is that critique is never personalized nor ad hominem. Critique is presented in a way that encourages rebuttal or expansion of the ideas expressed. Nonetheless, the distinctions are subtle and ambiguous at best.

What then is constructive criticism?  Constructive criticism is a type of feedback that provides specific and actionable advice to help someone improve. It's a balanced critique that acknowledges both positive and negative aspects of someone's work, and it's focused on helping them make honest changes. Here are some characteristics of constructive criticism:

1.       Specific: Constructive criticism provides clear and direct steps that the recipient can take to improve. 

2.       Encouraging: It's offered in a friendly manner with good intentions. 

3.       Balanced: Constructive criticism should include both positive and negative feedback and a balanced combination of the two. 

4.       Actionable: It provides insights, suggestions, and advice that empower the recipient to grow and develop. 

5.       Focus on actions: Constructive criticism should focus on a person's actions, performance, or behaviors, not their character or personality. Ad hominem attacks should be avoided.  

6.       Contextual: It highlights the things the recipient is doing well, which puts the criticism into context. 

7.       Respectful: Constructive criticism should be delivered with respect for the recipient's feelings and perspective. 

8.       Follow up: After providing constructive criticism, the individual offering criticism must follow up to check on progress and offer ongoing support and guidance. 

9.       Constructive tone: The tone of criticism also matters a great deal, and must be greatly modulated. 

10.   Focus on goals: The individual offering criticism must ensure that the criticism is aligned with shared goals and objectives. Constructive criticism can help foster a growth mindset, encouraging individuals to view challenges as opportunities to learn and develop. 

11.   Growth-oriented: It seeks to foster a supportive environment where the recipient can thrive. 

Here are some tips for giving constructive criticism: 

As far as possible, the person offering criticism may use the sandwich method. The sandwich technique, also known as the sandwich method or hamburger method, is a feedback technique that involves starting and ending a discussion with positive comments, and including negative feedback in the middle. The goal is to make the recipient feel more receptive and leave the conversation with a good impression. Here are some tips for using the sandwich technique: 

1.       The individual must start with praise: Highlight something positive about the person's performance.

2.       The individual must be constructive: Explain the concern or area for improvement in a clear and specific way.

3.       The individual must use examples: Support your assessment with concrete examples.

4.       The individual must end with praise: Reaffirm the person's value and strengths, and your confidence in their future improvement.

5.       The individual must use the “We” language strategy.

6.       The individual must focus on the action or behavior.

7.       The individual must not focus on the person

8.       The individual must Include specific positive praise.

9.       The individual must keep an appreciative tone.

10.   The individual must use words like "we" and "our" instead of "you" and "your". –this makes the recipient or the target of advice feel more at home

 

The principle of evidence based criticism must also be assiduously followed always, and at all times. As va part of this principle, we must provide evidence always for criticism. Evidence must be pertinent and must pertain to the issue. We may note here that the word evidence comes from the Latin word ēvidēnt-, which means "obvious". Evidence is anything that can be used to prove whether something is true or not. Evidence can be presented in many ways, including: 

a)      In a court of law

Evidence can be presented in the form of testimony, writings, or objects. This can include: 

Physical evidence: Tangible items or substances, such as weapons, fingerprints, DNA samples, or documents 

Documentary evidence: Written or recorded materials, such as contracts, emails, or medical records 

Expert evidence: Testimony or opinions offered by qualified experts in a specific field 

b)      In literary studies

Background information can be used to provide context about the historical, political, or cultural setting of a text. This can come from dictionaries, encyclopedias, or news articles. 

c)       In everyday life

Evidence can be used to show that something is true, such as "the chocolate stains around your mouth and the crumbs on the table are evidence that you ate the last of the brownies". 

Issue based criticism must be followed at all time, not ideology based criticism. i.e. one that is based on another ideology or a set of ideologies. An ideology is a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. The term ideology originates from the French word ideologie, itself deriving from combining Greek: idea meaning 'notion, pattern'; and -logia,  meaning 'the study of'). The term ideology and the system of ideas associated with it was coined in 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy. Other definitions of the term ideology were provided by David W. Minar, Willard A. Mullins, and Terry Eagleton. Please read our previous papers, and please watch our previous videos. We must state an infinite number of times “One kind of bias legitimizes every other kind of bias”. This should be the social sciences equivalent of every “action has an equal and opposite reaction”.  We have used it ad nauseum over the years.

Types of ideologies may include political, social, cultural, religious, scientific, and economic ideologies. List of ideologies include Eurocentrism, Indocentrism, Sinocentrism, Afrocentrism, scientific racism, Hindutva, Dravidian nationalism, Marxism,cCommunism, laissez-faire capitalism, anarchism, etc.  Ideology-based criticism is biased and misleading, does not serve its purpose, is flawed inherently, is recursive and inward looking, and does not make the world a better place.

Examples of non-constructive criticism include people making fun of Indian accomplishments, Indians making fun of India’s space program, not offering any meaningful suggestions, making fun of new progressive technology, making fun of progressive ideas such as the environmental movement, etc. Criticizing the government was fashionable during the Nehruvian era. Things have changed greatly since then. We have had good governments. In post-liberalization India, the public too must contribute to nation building unlike many left-leaning intellectuals who do nothing but criticize. Gone are the days of arm chair criticism. An underling methodology - a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.- must be used. An underlying process - a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.- must also be used. An underlying epistemology must be used. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. It is also called theory of knowledge, it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledge in the form of skills, and knowledge by acquaintance as a familiarity through experience. Epistemologists study the concepts of belief, truth, and justification to understand the nature of knowledge. A notable list of critics has included Jacques Barzun, Walter Benjamin, Whitwell Elwin, Camille Paglia, Susan Sontag among others. Many of them were arm chair critics. We cannot make an omnibus list, though the above list may be useful.  

Objective criticism of individuals must also be pursued at all times, whether it may be Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, or Veer Savarkar. All of them were humans, and all of them had ttheir own set of flaws and internal contradictions. A balanced criticism of individuals must therefore be pursued and accomplished listing plusses and minuses. A hagiography is a biography that treats its subject with undue reverence. Hagiographies may push their own agenda an must be avoided. Examples of hagiography include James Boswell's biography of Samuel Johnson: An influential hagiography that explores the life of the 18th-century English writer, Pope Gregory I the Great's Dialogues: A collection of stories about Saint Benedict and other 6th-century Latin monks and Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda aurea (Golden Legend): A 13th century hagiographic collection. An autohagiography is a hagiography about oneself. Examples inclide the Book of Margery Kempe: An example of autohagiography, where the subject dictates her life using the hagiographic form.

Examples of ideology-drenched hatred include books critical of Gandhi such as “Gandhi: Behind the Mask of Divinity” which is a book by United States Army officer G. B. Singh. Another book is “The Dark Side of Gandhi” by Hari Pada Roychoudhury. More balanced book on Gandhi include “The Life of Mahatma Gandhi”, a book by Louis Fischer. What are ad hominem attacks? An ad hominem attack is a type of argument that attacks the person making an argument instead of their argument or position. Ad hominem attacks are also known as personal attack fallacies or name calling. They can be used to discredit an opponent or to avoid the actual topic of discussion. This is also related to dogma. Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true without comprehensive evaluation. It is associated with rigid, inflexible and doctrinal thinking

What is pessimism? Pessimism is a a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. It is a belief that this world is as bad as it could be. Pessimism is generally seen to be unhealthy with minor exceptions. Pessimism is also the idea or that evil will ultimately prevail over good, and that good things will never happen. This may be largely a carry forward from the Nehruvian era when the Indian economy was stuck in a time warp. Cynicism is a general attitude of distrust and disbelief in the sincerity and goodness of people's actions and motives. It can also refer to the belief that people are primarily motivated by self-interest. The term "Cynic" comes from the ancient Greek word for "dog-like", which refers to the Cynics' belief that they were more similar to animals than modern humans. A prominent List of cynics include Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Onesicritus, Philiscus of Aegina, Hegesias of Sinope, and Monimus of Syracuse. Both pessimism and cynicism should be eschewed while delivering criticism and judgments.

Skepticism is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims, often because the available evidence is insufficient to support them. It is healthy to a certain degree, and some skepticism is actually necessary. For example, government claims about the efficacy of new a policy. However, skeptopathy or pathological skepticism is unhealthy, and diminishes scientific output. Here are some people and schools of thought associated with skepticism. Pyrrhon of Elis was a Greek philosopher who is considered the father of skepticism. The school of thought named after him is called Pyrrhonism. Sextus Empiricus was an ancient skeptic whose philosophy is considered to be the culmination of ancient skepticism. Galileo Galilei was a famous skeptical thinker who challenged beliefs about the planet and is considered a pioneer of evidence-based scientific methods. Academic skepticism was a school of skeptical philosophy in Hellenistic philosophy. Hellenistic philosophy is a term used to describe the philosophy of Ancient Greece during the Hellenistic period, which lasted from 323 BC to 31 BC. Radical philosophical skepticism was a form of philosophical skepticism that denies that "knowledge or rational belief is possible". Pyrrhonian skepticism was a form of skepticism that involves suspending or withholding belief about the possibility of justified moral belief. Dogmatic moral skepticism is a form of skepticism that involves making definite claims about the epistemic status of moral beliefs.

Criticism also needs to be tied to progressive approaches. Progressive approaches are those which lead to progress or betterment of situations, and those which lead to a betterment of people’s lives. Criticism also needs to be tied to practicalism and pragmatism. We had defined these previously. We also need a flexible approach – the ability to change with the times, and to change with the situation.  We also need adaptability and malleability. Advantages of constructive criticism is that it emphasizes contribution of individuals to society, it makes the world a better place, and it enhances qualitative and quantitative output. Dangers of arm chair criticism is that it is meaningless, pointless, futile, and it is not associated with action. We have for example, champagne and caviar Marxists, armchair Marxists, and lounge lizard Marxists. We also have library Marxists, armchair anthropologists, verandah anthropologists, and anthropologists as haindmaidens of colonialists. Smart people see good in others and smart people learn from others. Weaklings stoop to any level to criticize and spare no effort to demean others. Constructive criticism is the hallmark of an emotionally mature person. This is because Citizens are also stakeholders in nation building. We must all contribute to making the world a better place for everybody to live in. Citizens must contribute with ideas and do their mite. Citizens must rack their brains – so to speak. Old fashioned ideas need to go. For example Mahatma Gandhi did not provide constructive criticism to his children. He told his children what not to do most of the time, rather than what to do. He never empowered his children. He never even gave them a formal education. He never gave them a chance to succeed. He was sanctimonious and pontificated. Harilal Gandhi the eldest son went astray due to the lack of proper guidance. He became alcoholic and died destitute. Harilal even said – “I went on looking for a father, and found a Mahatma instead”.  We look forward to next generation of individuals who think differently, and act differently, and provide constructive criticism to make the world a better place to live in.