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Contents
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Welcome to Logic, an area which discusses the use and misuse
of this wonderful tool of the human mind. If you're in a hurry to
get to the articles themselves (rather than this introduction), click
here. Or click over there to the left in the "Logic" sub-contents.
I won't be offended.
Still with me? Good. It's nice to know you're the type
who likes to check things out before diving in...a logical type. I think
we're going to like one another.
The title of this feature, Logic, is perhaps...er, illogical.
Why? Because much of what will be discussed here is not logic but
the lack thereof.
And that's a very logical way to present logic. In
her book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," author Betty Edwards
demonstrates the power of negative thinking. One of her exercises
is to have the drawer look not at the subject directly, but at the spaces
that outline the subject. Because the brain doesn't recognize these
new shapes, it is forced to go into right-brain mode and really look at
what's being drawn. It's a trick that really works.
The same can be applied to logic. By looking at the
areas outside of logic -- the fallacies -- we get a better understanding
of what clear thinking is.
Something for Teachers
Studying the fallacies of logic is an excellent teaching
tool for several reasons. Number one, many of the problems students
have is not due to a lack of comprehension but bad logic. Show students
the errors in their thinking mechanisms and you can free them to better
understanding and achievement.
Second, teaching fallacies is fun for both the teacher and
the student. Why? Because bad logic is funny. The book
"Catch 22" is built entirely around bad logic. The title itself indicates
the logical fallacy of circular logic. Much of the humor students
love today from Seinfeld to the Simpsons relies heavily on logical thinking
gone awry. In the ten years I've taught logical fallacies to my students,
I have yet to find a group who didn't enjoy it.
Therefore, one of the sub-categories of this feature -- "Teaching
Logical Fallacies" -- is aimed entirely at the teaching profession.
Non-teachers will still enjoy the information (I hope) but it will be presented
in the of a lesson plan. Each week a new fallacy will be presented
with techniques in how to present the topic, how to explain it, examples
of the fallacy in action, how to apply the teaching of it to a variety
of content areas, and how to develop the teaching of each fallacy into
discussions involving the higher cognitive skills of analysis, synthesis,
and judgment (to use the categories of Bloom's taxonomy). The first
installment in this series is on one of the most basic of fallacies, the
"Bare Assertion."
Not Just for Teachers
Of interest to the general reader will be the ongoing series,
"Great Moments in Illogic." Here different real life examples of
bad logic in action will be presented. And here is a chance for you
the reader to interact by sending in your favorite examples of bad logic
in action.
Well, enough explanation: click the topic of your choice
to get started.
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