The second threat that Edmundson observes is the total absence of any developed personal belief system in many of our young people, who either do not know enough about past systems of thought (e.g., contributions by Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, or Noam Chomsky) or who are too impatient to examine and learn from them. As a result, their ability to learn the kind of critical thinking necessary for deeper understanding can become stunted. Intellectual rudderlessness and adherence to a way of thought that allows no questions are threats to critical thinking in us all.
