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THINKING_HOWTO

                                             August 12, 2002

It would be nice if I could come up with a single volume
on the subject of "How To Think" to recommend, but I don't
know of one.

It doesn't seem like it
should be that hard to
write...

An outline:

A quick run down of logic

   Deduction vs induction

      Plus sidebar on the necessary role of intution

   A listing of the classic logical fallacies

   A discussion of known cognitive biases.


Practical strategies for dealing with information overload

   Collaborative social processes for converging
   on the truth (e.g. science, legal debate).

   An overview of common debating tactics, fair and foul;

   A little bit on statistics;

       The importance of arithmetic

       The necessity of living with uncertainty.

And some concluding sentiments about the
difficult but important business of
keeping yourself honest,

Objectivity as an ideal to be approached,
if never quite achieved, etc.


Maybe this book would be something like Hayakawa's
"Language in Thought and Action", but without the
General Semantics bias.

       Such a book would necessarily focus
       on the things that are easy to say
       (no matter how often they're ignored),
       and skip the parts that are hard.

       Getting someone to understand a logical
       fallacy in principle is easy compared
       to getting them to spot one in their
       own thinking.


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