Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now: Practical Logic & Thinking

Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Practical Logic & Thinking Oct 16th 2011, 10:04 There are many different claims out there vying for our attention and acceptance. We encounter claims in politics, religion, and of course advertising. Some claims are true or at least reasonable, but many are wrong if not outright lies. How can we reliably separate the two? How can we learn to think clearly enough to differentiate between true and false ideas? Title: Truth, Knowledge, Or Just Plain Bull: How To Tell The Difference: A Handbook of Practical Logic and Clear Thinking Author: Bernard M. Patten Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1591022460 Pro: • Conversational style that doesn’t overwhelm readers with academic language • Covers a lot of important, necessary ground Con: • Some may be put off by the style and tone Description: • Explanation of how to distinguish between true and false beliefs • Explanation of how to reason and use logic correctly • Includes exercise questions with each chapter Book Review Unfortunately, clear thinking is a skill that has to be learned and practiced â€" it’s not something that simply comes naturally or automatically. People often think that they are good at logic when they really aren’t, and this prevents them from taking the time and effort to learn what they need to make better decisions. Even worse, most of the material out there is aimed at an academic audience, and as such tends to be written in a manner that is unappealing to the average person. This creates a gap in what is available, but a gap that may have been filled by Bernard M. Patten’s Truth, Knowledge, Or Just Plain Bull: How To Tell The Difference: A Handbook of Practical Logic and Clear Thinking. A former neurologist at Baylor College of Medicine and now a lecturer in logic at Rice University, Patten’s book seems to aim at crossing the boundary between academic and lay audiences. For more academic contexts, each chapter contains a short review at the end and questions about the preceding material. This will naturally help lay readers as well, but they will be most helped by the upbeat, conversational prose style Patten uses. Sometimes it sounds more like Patten is talking to you across the table over a meal rather than lecturing on logic and philosophy â€" and this allows him to get his point across more simply and readily for those without a technical background. The need for improved thinking cannot be underestimated. As Patten explains, “Clear thinking helps you protect yourself from the dangers of the ubiquitous nonsense and outright frauds that assault you from every side.” Everywhere you look, there are schemes and plans that are predicated upon the accurate premise that people just can’t think well even though they believe they do. As a consequence, they can be readily susceptible to faulty reasoning that appears, superficially, to be sound. Some people have the impression that skills in logic and reasoning are only a way to “win” arguments, but as Patten explains: “This book is about seeking the truth. It is not about winning arguments. To get to the truth, we must consider all the evidence and omit none. If evidence that is crucial to the support of the conclusion or that definitively proves the conclusion wrong is omitted from consideration, we cannot get to the heart of the matter at the core of the truth.” Truth, Knowledge, Or Just Plain Bull: How To Tell The Difference: A Handbook of Practical Logic Clear thinking is not about “winning” arguments because our first arguments must always be with ourselves. People who are good at thinking and reasoning should start by disputing their own ideas, examining them for flaws, then either modifying their beliefs or strengthening what they already thought. Arguments with others come later, if at all. Thinking is hard â€" even if you understand the basic principles, you have to practice regularly in order to do it well. Thinking is also dangerous because people who think well and ask tough questions pose a threat to those in power who would rather we just went along with what they want. Even if they have good reasons for their ideas, defending those ideas takes a lot of work and effort â€" it would be easier if we just took their word for it and went about our lives. Personally, I still prefer How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, by Theodore Schick, Jr. and Lewis Vaughn as a basic introduction to logic, skepticism, and reasoning. That book, however, is a bit more academically oriented, whereas Patten’s is likely to appeal to a broader audience. If he succeeds in getting more people to think critically, that will be an important accomplishment.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions