Language Models as Critical Thinking Tools: A Case Study of Philosophers
This work identifies a gap in using LMs for critical thinking, targeting philosophers and researchers, but it is incremental as it builds on existing LM applications without new technical advancements.
The study investigated whether language models (LMs) can aid critical thinking by interviewing 21 professional philosophers, finding that LMs are currently not useful due to lacking selfhood and initiative. It proposed a model to address this gap and suggested three potential roles for LMs as critical thinking tools.
Current work in language models (LMs) helps us speed up or even skip thinking by accelerating and automating cognitive work. But can LMs help us with critical thinking -- thinking in deeper, more reflective ways which challenge assumptions, clarify ideas, and engineer new concepts? We treat philosophy as a case study in critical thinking, and interview 21 professional philosophers about how they engage in critical thinking and on their experiences with LMs. We find that philosophers do not find LMs to be useful because they lack a sense of selfhood (memory, beliefs, consistency) and initiative (curiosity, proactivity). We propose the selfhood-initiative model for critical thinking tools to characterize this gap. Using the model, we formulate three roles LMs could play as critical thinking tools: the Interlocutor, the Monitor, and the Respondent. We hope that our work inspires LM researchers to further develop LMs as critical thinking tools and philosophers and other 'critical thinkers' to imagine intellectually substantive uses of LMs.