Learning to Think
From an early age I’ve been intrigued by discussions and debates. The exchanges of intellectual blows have always fascinated me, and I’ve thus far participated in a fair number of these battles of knowledge and wit. The very fact that some measure of truth can be achieved through a sort of cognitive purgatory is both encouraging and, it seems, to some people, frightening. If we accept its premise, that might ultimately mean that we will have to let go of ideas and opinions we old dear, now exposed for the delusions they actually are. Since I was a teenager it has become somewhat of a mission for me to organize my thoughts according to the laws of logic and reason, and whenever I find a flaw in my reasoning I do my best to purge it. This, I rather think, is a personal responsibility that should ideally be undertaken by everyone, but in order to do so, one needs the proper tools for the job.
And this is where learning how to think comes in.
When I tell my pupils that I am going to teach them how to think, I usually get some questions along the lines of “But aren’t I already thinking?” and “Isn’t that something you just do?”. And this is where my background as a martial artist comes in handy, in this case as a useful analogy. Most adults know how to walk, right? And everyone knows how to push and pull, and maybe even punch if that is what it takes, isn’t that so? And in some sense, that is correct. We do know how to do these things, only, without practice, and perchance, instruction, we just don’t know how to do them very well. The thing is that during my years as a Shotokan practitioner I learned about the shifts of weight, balance, angle of impact, speed and timing that is required to -actually- punch or kick someone. And after I started practicing Aikido I changed the way I walked to better control my centre of gravity and I learned how to use an opponent’s angular momentum against him, something which has enabled me to put to the ground people much stronger and larger than myself.
These are, perhaps, things I might have figured out on my own through trial and error, if I had thought of doing so, but it was certainly much more efficient to learn it from someone who already knew.
And that is why we have teachers.
Your brain is your most important weapon, and unlike martial skills, it is a weapon we employ every day, so it makes sense to learn how to use it properly. This is in fact a skill that has been studied and practiced for hundreds, if not thousands of years, hailing back at least to the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, generally thought to be the founders of the discipline we call Logic. And concerning that subject it is important to note that Logic is not so much invented as it is discovered, meaning that through argumentative positions and conditions it is determined what -must- be true. In this sense it is not unlike mathematics, born as they are of the same source.
This does not mean that all logical arguments are automatically a truthful reflection of reality. In Holberg’s famous play ‘Rasmus Montanus’ an argument is made on the premise that since both a stone and a human cannot fly, they must therefore both be stones. But as should be obvious to all, this is faulty logic because while the premise is not inaccurate, it is too narrow to justify the conclusion derived from it. This is something we must watch for when dissecting the arguments posed to us. But while a logically sound argument does not -have- to be a correct representation of reality, it can be said that an argument that is not logically sound is -always- incorrect. Therefore it is of utmost importance that we employ this tool to check both our own conclusions as well as those presented to us from various sources, be they politicians, parents, teachers or random people on the internet.
In its simplest form a logical argument can be set up like this:
“If A is larger than B, and B is larger than C, then C cannot be larger than A.”
This is a logical consequence of the premises we have chosen to use, and while it may seem banal, it is important to understand the unrelenting mechanism that clicks into place like clockwork, and it reveals the lack of relevance our own personal opinions about something has regarding whether something is true or not. This may seem uncompromising, and I’ve encountered more than one debater who in disbelief has expressed annoyance at my utter disregard for their opinions on a matter. But that is how it is: in the quest for truth your opinion is of no consequence, and unless you can back your opinion up with logical argumentation grounded in relevant facts it will be summarily dismissed.
Sorry.
Your only defence is to learn how to use your brain better, because if you don’t you are not only going to be subject to having your arguments picked apart and thrown on the ground by those who have learned to use logic properly, but you are, more importantly, going to obtain any number of faulty opinions and notions about the world around you. Thinking is a skill like any other, and it is perhaps the most important skill you are ever going to learn. For me it has been a journey that has at times been hard and sometimes painful, but it has always been interesting. And for those of us who care more about what is true than about what is comfortable, it is not only worth doing, but it is, plainly and simply, a necessity.
So go to and hone this, your greatest weapon, and with all your might shun those who would rather teach you -what- to think than -how- to think.
Because they are legion.
And this is where learning how to think comes in.
When I tell my pupils that I am going to teach them how to think, I usually get some questions along the lines of “But aren’t I already thinking?” and “Isn’t that something you just do?”. And this is where my background as a martial artist comes in handy, in this case as a useful analogy. Most adults know how to walk, right? And everyone knows how to push and pull, and maybe even punch if that is what it takes, isn’t that so? And in some sense, that is correct. We do know how to do these things, only, without practice, and perchance, instruction, we just don’t know how to do them very well. The thing is that during my years as a Shotokan practitioner I learned about the shifts of weight, balance, angle of impact, speed and timing that is required to -actually- punch or kick someone. And after I started practicing Aikido I changed the way I walked to better control my centre of gravity and I learned how to use an opponent’s angular momentum against him, something which has enabled me to put to the ground people much stronger and larger than myself.
These are, perhaps, things I might have figured out on my own through trial and error, if I had thought of doing so, but it was certainly much more efficient to learn it from someone who already knew.
And that is why we have teachers.
Your brain is your most important weapon, and unlike martial skills, it is a weapon we employ every day, so it makes sense to learn how to use it properly. This is in fact a skill that has been studied and practiced for hundreds, if not thousands of years, hailing back at least to the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, generally thought to be the founders of the discipline we call Logic. And concerning that subject it is important to note that Logic is not so much invented as it is discovered, meaning that through argumentative positions and conditions it is determined what -must- be true. In this sense it is not unlike mathematics, born as they are of the same source.
This does not mean that all logical arguments are automatically a truthful reflection of reality. In Holberg’s famous play ‘Rasmus Montanus’ an argument is made on the premise that since both a stone and a human cannot fly, they must therefore both be stones. But as should be obvious to all, this is faulty logic because while the premise is not inaccurate, it is too narrow to justify the conclusion derived from it. This is something we must watch for when dissecting the arguments posed to us. But while a logically sound argument does not -have- to be a correct representation of reality, it can be said that an argument that is not logically sound is -always- incorrect. Therefore it is of utmost importance that we employ this tool to check both our own conclusions as well as those presented to us from various sources, be they politicians, parents, teachers or random people on the internet.
In its simplest form a logical argument can be set up like this:
“If A is larger than B, and B is larger than C, then C cannot be larger than A.”
This is a logical consequence of the premises we have chosen to use, and while it may seem banal, it is important to understand the unrelenting mechanism that clicks into place like clockwork, and it reveals the lack of relevance our own personal opinions about something has regarding whether something is true or not. This may seem uncompromising, and I’ve encountered more than one debater who in disbelief has expressed annoyance at my utter disregard for their opinions on a matter. But that is how it is: in the quest for truth your opinion is of no consequence, and unless you can back your opinion up with logical argumentation grounded in relevant facts it will be summarily dismissed.
Sorry.
Your only defence is to learn how to use your brain better, because if you don’t you are not only going to be subject to having your arguments picked apart and thrown on the ground by those who have learned to use logic properly, but you are, more importantly, going to obtain any number of faulty opinions and notions about the world around you. Thinking is a skill like any other, and it is perhaps the most important skill you are ever going to learn. For me it has been a journey that has at times been hard and sometimes painful, but it has always been interesting. And for those of us who care more about what is true than about what is comfortable, it is not only worth doing, but it is, plainly and simply, a necessity.
So go to and hone this, your greatest weapon, and with all your might shun those who would rather teach you -what- to think than -how- to think.
Because they are legion.