Tag Archives: logic

This is useful not only as a primer on recognizing and rebutting science denialism but also as a contribution to critical thinking in general.I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "conspiracy theory" without an adequate foundation is just another means of discrediting opponents and  achieving narrative control. But there are conspiracy theories out there that need debunking based on sound reasoning grounded in evidence.Crazy UncleA history of FLICC: the 5 techniques of...

I've known writers who have the essay almost fully formed in their mind, and it just pours out on to the page. It's happened for me a few times. But most writing for me, and I suspect for others, starts from a place of less clarity. There's an idea, to be sure, and some support for the idea. But as you try to put the ideas into concrete words, you become aware of a lack of precision in what you are saying, of a failure to capture what you really mean to say, of holes and inconsistencies in...

A bit wonkish, but interesting. Big implications for the transition from the analog era that has lasted throughout history up to now into the digital age. An important iteration in the digital age has taken place already. (This has some people concerned that humans will lose control to AI.) Quantum computers appear to be different from classical computers such that they may result in different categories of problems that the machines can respectively handle. This can be seen by...

Chris Dillow is writing bout the dialectical approach in contrast to the categorical approach and apparently doesn't realize it even though he is a Marxian economist. What is is saying is to adopt the principle of rational inquiry in one's own thinking by critiquing oneself and becoming one's own interlocutor and devil's advocate. This is fundamental to critical thinking, in contrast to dogmatic thinking, for example.Stumbling and MumblingRationalism, rationality & reasonablenessChris...

Abduction in this sense is reasoning to the best explanation based on relevant information available. (The use of "abduction" by C. S. Peirce, the originator of the term, is somewhat different. See abductive reasoning) Math is an instrument of deduction. Deductive reasoning proceeds logically from a stipulated starting point, e.g., axioms, postulates, using deductive logic or mathematics. Abduction involves constructing conceptual or mathematical models based on what is given. To...

Important. I think Noah has this right. Fit the tool to the job, rather than the job to the tool. Aristotle defined speculative knowledge in terms of causal explanation. This definition stuck although Aristotle's analysis of causality did not. In the Posterior Analytics, Aristotle places the following crucial condition on proper knowledge: we think we have knowledge of a thing only when we have grasped its cause (APost. 71 b 9–11. Cf. APost. 94 a 20). That proper knowledge is knowledge...