Thinking about thinking
Logic is the philosophical study of thought and reason. The aim of logic is to build arguments that infallibly correlate with what is true.
We should teach logic at primary school, secondary school, preparatory school and at all university levels. To start teaching logic at kindergarten would not be far-fetched either. I have heard many people claim that math and grammar teach logic indirectly.
Is it true?
Grammar studies the structure of language. While structure of language is correct or incorrect, it has nothing to do with if the sentence turns out true or false, or how true sentences connect, or how you can discover a falsehood through pure logic.
Mathematics, however, practice reasoning skills. That is true. However, mathematics only explore a narrow field within logic, neglecting what I consider the most important subject of them all: Critical thinking.
Critical thinking (sometimes called Argumentation) is an international educational movement that promotes teaching logic. It encompasses Informal logic, Formal logic, Symbolic logic and Mathematical logic.
But we do all think, don’t we? And if we do think, why would we have to learn it?
Well, that is the choice, isn’t it?
If you want to think well, you must study logic; but if you want to know why you would want to study logic, you would have to reason, right? Catch 22, anyone?
I love the way Matthew Lipman introduces logic to children through his philosophical novel, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery, where Harry, a young boy about 10 years old, is sitting by his desk in the classroom while the teacher is talking about planets. For some reason, Harry’s mind wanders away from the discussion in the classroom, but when the teacher asks him a question, and he gives the wrong answer, and the class laughs at him, he feels shame for now having reasoned well, and decides not to make that happen again. So he starts constructing rules for his own reasoning.
The first rule he discovers is that if you turn a true sentence around that starts with “All”, it will become false, unless both the first part of the sentence and the second part contain same meaning. He plays around with sentences like:
All dogs are mammals
After turning it around he gets:
All mammals are dogs
He continues exploring, and so will the student do who reads the novel.
My daughter just started reading this novel for herself. She is twelve. She told me that the day after she couldn’t help thinking about turning sentences around, and she loved doing it. It was fun. And she talked with her friends about this theory, and they attempted their own sentences. So she is spreading philosophy among 12 year olds.
She has discovered a sense of wonder about generalizations. It’s a first step into a bright new world.
I couldn’t be more proud of her.
Picture: C Squares
