On 10/7/2014 5:19 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
Anyway, when I say "teach logic in schools" I just mean (at the very least) the basic things: Like recognizing and identifying the basic logical fallacies (no need necessarily to dive into the actual latin names - the names aren't nearly as crucial as understanding the concepts themselves), recognizing ambiguity, understanding *why* the fallacies and ambiguity are flaws, and the problems and absurdities that can occur when such things aren't noticed and avoided.
In other words, critical thinking. This is something that, at least in America, is not at all part of the primary school experience.
This is VERY simple, and crucial, stuff. And yet I see SOOO many grown adults, even ones with advanced graduate degrees, consistently fail completely and uttery at basic logical reasoning in everyday life (and we're talking very, very obvious and basic fallacies), that it's genuinely disturbing.
I've personally seen two university courses offered under different guises that try to correct this problem. One is called "Introduction to Mathematical Thinking" and is taught by Keith Devlin at Stanford. The other is called "Think Again: How to Reason and Argue", headed by alter Sinnott-Armstrong at Duke. Despite the disparity in the course titles and the very different approaches taken by the instructors, the content is directed at the same goal -- pushing students to get past their cognitive biases and critically and logically examine any data presented to them.
Sadly, American culture seems to increasingly encourage the opposite of critical thinking. It has almost become a badge of honor among some (rather large) circles to embrace a form of willful ignorance rooted in rejecting logic and hard, cold data in favor of falling victim to confirmation bias.
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