A tale of two Mertons

In her famous Slagle lecture, Reilly describes the importance of criticism in professions in general and in occupational therapy in particular.  She stated that "...a card-carrying critic must do more than merely engage in critical thinking. Judgments made by a critic must emerge from a discreet use of techniques which are difficult to master and dangerous to apply. Basically, the skill is dependent upon an ability to analyze, interpret and synthesize. A critic must have a sharply developed capacity to see deficiencies in data and fallacies in interpretation. The best stock in trade that any critic has is a discerning eye for trends and an ability to pattern and verbalize them. Whether a critic is worth listening to is usually decided by an ability to use language well, by a creativeness in synthesizing new relations and by courage to propose provocative hypotheses. Ultimately, however, a good critic rests his case upon how well he has been able to restructure the issue so that the necessary powers for its resolution can be freed."Reilly understood that these were difficult standards because in her estimation criticism was not commonly employed or understood in professional affairs at the time she gave her lecture.Unfortunately, not much has changed in this regard in 50 years.  The AOTA is proposing changes to the Bylaws that create an environment that will discourage member participation.  The current proposed revisions are posted online at h...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Health Tags: philosophy policy Source Type: blogs