Thinking from Scratch: Why I started this Blog
Socrates, representing the origin of critical thinking and the art of questioning assumptions.
“I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.””
The Start
Hello, I’m Luc,
and I’m starting this blog to give you a glimpse into what I do, what I believe and what I’m currently working on. In short, it’s a space for you to get to know me a little better.
With a background in science education I’ve always believed that to teach effectively and foster genuine understanding we first need to understand how people actually think. Only when we grasp how thinking itself works can we help others learn, reason and make sense of the world in a deeper way. That realisation was the starting point of my journey into exploring human thought, behavior and decision-making.
During my master’s thesis I began connecting the Nature of Science (NOS) with critical thinking. I wanted to understand how people’s understanding of scientific methods, values and attitudes shapes the way they evaluate information and form opinions. It quickly became clear how difficult it can be to separate scientific from non-scientific claims in a world constantly flooded with information, social media and AI.
My thesis went better than I could have hoped, opening the door for me to pursue a full-time PhD position. This time I wanted to go deeper, to understand how people think and decide and how knowledge actually shapes judgment.
Throughout my PhD I focused on critical thinking and decision-making, developing models and definitions to make the concept tangible and practical. Building on that I conducted five empirical studies to explore how people make judgments and what truly drives their decisions.
What I found was both fascinating and humbling. Even among those with strong scientific training, reasoning was often guided less by logic and more by emotion, social expectations or personal beliefs. It showed me that thinking clearly isn’t just about knowing more; it’s about becoming aware of what shapes our thoughts in the first place.
Why I’m Writing This
After finishing my PhD I realised something important: understanding how people think is one thing. Helping them use that understanding in real life is another.
Most people don’t struggle because they lack knowledge. They struggle because knowledge alone doesn’t automatically lead to clarity, sound judgment or wise decisions. We often know what’s right or reasonable yet we act, decide or argue in completely different ways. I saw that pattern everywhere, in education, in organisations, in public debates and in myself.
That’s when I started shifting my focus from research about thinking to helping people work with their own thinking, to make reflection, reasoning and decision-making something practical, rather than theoretical.
This blog is part of that shift.
It’s a space to explore ideas about thinking, clarity and decisions in a way that feels human, relatable and grounded in everyday life.
If you’ve ever caught yourself overthinking, doubting a choice or wondering why people believe such different things even when looking at the same facts, you’re in the right place.
Join the Journey
Clear thinking isn’t a destination. It’s a practice that grows with every question we dare to ask and every perspective we learn to see differently.
That’s what this blog is about: exploring how we think, why we decide the way we do and how a deeper awareness of our minds can shape better choices, deeper understanding and more meaningful conversations.
I’ll share ideas, insights and reflections from my research and experience to help you see your own thinking with more clarity, not to tell you what to think but to invite you to think better.
Welcome to the journey. Let’s grow in thought together.
Reflection starts with dialogue.
If you’d like to share a thought or question, you can write to me at contact@lucalbrecht.com
Thinking from Scratch
by Luc Albrecht
Exploring how we think, decide and create clarity