Date of Award
5-14-2023
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Media Studies
Advisor(s)
Srividya Ramasubramanian
Keywords
Critical Thinking, Empathy, Epistemic injustice, Framing Theory, Fricker, Heidegger
Abstract
Critical thinking has long been recognized across disciplines as being solely rooted in problem-solving and logical argument construction. By using Miranda Fricker’s Epistemic Injustice: The Power and Ethics of Knowing as a core theoretical framework, this study aims to deconstruct the ways in how news framing has shaped critical thinking over vast periods of time through an exploration into the ways in which thinking has been socially understood in an otherwise largely technologically immersed world. Using a rhetorical criticism approach, 33 news articles and segments are analyzed from a variety of popular news sources from several platforms that are commonly used mediums for information. Findings indicate that framing bias echoes hermeneutic injustice propagandizing systematic devaluation of individuated experience through use of numeric abstraction. Future research directions include an exploration into methods of cultural shift to reconsider empathy and creativity as an integral part of critical thinking as an extension of mathematics and logic.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Bhadki, Maleeha, "PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES TO EVALUATING CRITICAL THINKING AS DIMINISHED EMPATHY: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEWS FRAMING OF STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS" (2023). Theses - ALL. 721.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/721
