Problematizing Via Method

dr. bonnie lenore kyburz

So, you’ve been asked to “problematize” a particular concern. What does this
mean? First, it means to think carefully about the assumptions, opinions, and
beliefs you bring to thinking about a problem. Some useful questions include:

1.) Do I have a very strong bias (a one-sided position) about this problem?
Might this bias foreclose the possibility of thinking expansively about
it?

2.) Do I have strong, emotional responses to thinking about this problem

that might occlude my ability to think openly about it?

3.) Do I use very strong or absolute terms to frame up my sense of this

problem? (i.e., “always,” “never,” “terrible,” “right,” “wrong,” . . .
words that shut down inquiry)?

4.) Can I actually imagine another position than the one that seems to be
informing my emotional thoughts about this problem?

5.) Can I rethink my position in ways that are in opposition to my original

instincts? Will it be possible for me to “change sides”?

6.) Can I explore this problem beyond a “pro” and “con” (dualistic) way of
thinking?

7.) Can I both “believe” and “doubt” my original thoughts on this

problem? (ala Peter Elbow’s “Believing and Doubting Game”?

Below are a few more general methods for problematizing. These first two
are especially useful for “beginning problematizers.” Let’s say that you’ve
worked through some personal concern to discover that your focused
research question is, say, “Is physical pain valuable?”

1.) Maybe you want to look at possible CAUSES of a problem. Ask

questions about its origins, history, the events and contexts that
generated it. Ask why it still exists?

2.) Or you will look at potential CONSEQUENCES of the problem. What

will it mean if it continues? If we don’t do anything to change/stop/alter
it?

Other useful methods (for later, not this assignment) include:

3.) EXAMPLES of how pain is valuable (you have recurring headaches, so

you go to the doctor, get a scan, and discover a tumor that needs
serious medical attention; you burn your hand on the stove, so you
know to remove it in order to avoid further damage to your skin). Or,
 examples of how physical pain is seemingly without value; this
question seems difficult to speak to, but here is where . . .

4.) . . . you might try to divide pain up into CATEGORIES (classifying),

like mild, chronic, or severe, and then explore what these various kinds
of pain mean in terms of “value,” looking for positive (surprising) new
views on pain. For example: you have chronic back pain that keeps you
from doing certain dangerous activities you may have enjoyed in the
past—could this keep you from further harm? Conversely, we know
that some people suffer severe and chronic pain that seems without
value; they simply suffer, seemingly without reason.