I brought dhammavicaya up quite early in this thread.Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:The factor of enlightenment called "Investigation of Phenomena" (Dhammavicaya), by means of which a meditator gains insight, does not speculate, it just observes things as they truly are, without any prejudice or bias.
It's not accurate to say "without any." Observing as a form of knowing comes with it's own assumptions and biases and requires critical judgment (and the way you phrase this looks to me like what Ellis and Burns call the irrational belief/cognitive distortion of All-Or-Nothing Thinking). The Path has a Goal (telos) and is fabricated by the practitioners verbal, mental, and bodily actions. The Goal dictates which biases to have and which to discard. The fabricating of The Path requires critical thinking. Critical thinking, by the definition in the video, is not merely speculative as the goal postulated there is to improve thinking. If you read Thanissaro's Skill In Questions, for instance, you'll find a case for the fact that the Buddha did just this.