What is logical thinking?

- What is logical thinking?

• Masako Watanabe
• Amazon
  • Same author as [Cultural Foundations of "Logical Thinking"

- This book explains that logical thinking methods are not universal and that it is necessary to choose the appropriate method according to the purpose of thinking. Specifically, the book organizes the types of reasoning and their purposes in logic, rhetoric, science, and philosophy, and advocates "pluralistic thinking," which uses different methods of thinking tied to the four domains of economics, politics, law and technology, and society. - The author, Masako Watanabe, received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University and is currently a professor at the Graduate School of Education and Developmental Sciences, Nagoya University. She specializes in sociology of knowledge, comparative education, and comparative culture, and analyzes cultural aspects of logical thinking from these perspectives. - The book has been an exceptional hit, with a series of reprints before its release, exceeding 38,000 copies in five printings in about a month. This is due to the fact that the book has attracted the interest of many readers by offering a new perspective on logical thinking.

Table of Contents Logical thinking methods are not universal. It requires the skill to first clarify the purpose of thinking and then select the thinking method that best suits that purpose. This book teaches multidimensional thinking, in which the types of reasoning and their purposes in logic, rhetoric, science, and philosophy are grasped, and the four methods of thinking (economic, political, legal, technological, and social) linked to values are used in different ways. This is a book for thinking independently in this uncertain world.

order of precedence

• Introduction: Is Logical Thinking One?

Introduction: Western Patterns of Thought: Four Logics

• 1 Comparative Table of Logic and Thinking Methods in Logic, Rhetoric, Science, and Philosophy - Four ways of thinking

• 2 Logic of Logic

  • PurposeFour ways of thinking のうち数学などで使われる演繹的な論理学スタイルと科学のスタイルは違うよねという話は拙著「エンジニアの知的生産術」でも書いた( (7.1.2) The difference between scientific and mathematical correctness )
    • In my book, I mentioned "Correctness of decision-making" as the third correctness and said that it is different from either of those two correctnesses.
  • Logic writes that it "habituates us to think rigorously," but it habituates us to make it clear whether something is True or False, and a side effect of this is that it makes it difficult to ignore and see "the possibility that something is not divisible by True/False."
    • Of course, it is often useful to think in terms of "How far can we say with certainty that something is True?
    • However, it can also cause you to feel powerless to deal with issues that are neither True nor False, or to go through the motions because you don't know how to deal with them
    • - Disambiguation: It is difficult to be aware of ambiguous areas that cannot be divided by true/false and the possibility of multiple truths coexisting. - Simplification of complex realities: it is difficult to see the multi-layered elements of reality and may rely too much on divisible logic alone. - In social and cultural issues, "diverse perspectives" and values are important, not authenticity. - Judgments based solely on a logistical approach may lack flexibility and comprehensive thinking.

• 3 Logic of persuasion (rhetoric)

  • It is very interesting to note that Aristotle not only systematized logic (the study of rigorous reasoning), but at the same time emphasized the need for rhetoric (the art of persuasion)
  • Rhetoric is not true or false, but a value judgment,pragmatism 的
    • goal-oriented
      • Rhetoric focuses not on "what is right" but on "how to move the audience.
      • The goal is to elicit concrete action and agreement, not abstract criteria of truth or falsehood.
  • Omit the basic premise because in rhetoric, shorter is more useful, interesting.
  • Talk about choosing an appropriate one from the "argumentation types" that have been accumulated over the years, it would be interesting if the AI explicitly uses it.
  • So this is a profit-maximizing technique, and it's beneficial to be perceived as using it for the public good, not for personal gain.

• 4 Logic of Scientific Discovery

  • アブダクションにおいては拡張性が評価軸、面白い Yonemori(2009:9).
  • Rhetoric draws favorable conclusions based on common sense, whereas science creates new models based on observed facts that defy common sense.
    • There's some extensional thinking going on in user testing.
      • Based on the observed fact that some users behave contrary to their own assumptions, consider the reasons why this behavior has emerged.
  • 可謬主義
    • The philosophical position is that human knowledge and beliefs are always fallible and cannot be held with complete certainty].
    • Fallibilism also influenced Karl Popper's philosophy of science, which is closely tied to the concept of "falsifiability."

• 5 Logic of philosophical inquiry

  • Philosophy questions the premise.
    • One of the means is the Socratic question and answer, Hegel's dialectic
    • He said that in French high schools, students are forced to practice Hegel's dialectic.

• It's a pattern of science to let users use the software and discover unexpected ways to use it and improve it, and it's a pattern of rhetoric to let the software be used by a wide range of users.

  • The objective of "creating a tool acceptable to the masses" is broken down
    • What features are needed to be accepted by the masses?
    • How do we get the masses to accept the tools we've created?" is rhetoric.
  • Maybe I never thought about this in a clear, separate way.

Chapter 1: Cultural Aspects of Logical Thinking

• 1 What makes us feel "logical"?
  • Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter-Cultural Education(Kaplan 1966)
    • logical とは「読み手にとって必要な要素が読み手の期待する順に並んでいることから生まれる感覚」面白い、主観的
  • Diverse cultural groups by hierarchy, region, and language make up the country, but the culture of the ruler is taught because a culture of integration is needed (Bourdieu 2012). - National Aristocracy--Elite Education and the Reproduction of the Ruling Class
• 2 Logic and Culture: Value Selection and Priority
  • Values are expressed in the prioritization of objectives, which selects the "logic", interesting!
• 3 Logic and rationality - Max Weber, Economy and Society.
• 4 The respective logics of economy, politics, legal technology, and society
• I was talking to AI about this four-quadrant matrix being subtle, and it occurred to me to let AI discuss it in reference to that log. - Discuss the four-quadrant matrix

Chapter 2: Implicit Norms Determining "Types of Composition" and "Types of Logic": Four Domains and Four Logics

• 1 Know the type of composition required
• Teaching the Universe of Discourse(Moffett 1968)
• 2 Economic Logic──American Essay and Efficiency and Certainty of Purpose
• 3 Political Logic: Dissertations in France and the Resolution of Contradictions and Public Welfare
  • Ethics of Responsibility
    • The question is, "Have you thought this through?"
      • economic rationality, in contrast to the question of "speed" in
  • It's interesting that the format of the discertacion ends with a Hegelian ortho-antagonism, then a summary, then posing the next question.
    • Maybe a multi-person discussion platform would be better to continue the discussion that way.
  • The essay makes the conclusion explicit at the outset, whereas the discertacion finds value in expanding its perspective through the process of positive and negative congruence.
  • It seems that in the discertacion, you justify it with a quote from the classics instead of "what I think," but in our day and age, you could pick a headline of conflict or a quote from the "popular sayings." - Justification by mass statement
  • I've been collecting patterns of Aristotle's arguments without realizing it, but my collection of False dichotomy and A series of pictures of two people saying different things might be one of them.
• 4 The Logic of Legal Technology──Iranian Ensher and the Preservation of Truth
  • It is interesting to point out that in Ensher, first principles are given from the outside and are not subject to criticism, which is spoken of as a commonality between law and theology.
  • Interesting value of conveying a message without drawing conclusions.
  • In Iran, people are trained to recall concepts that proverbs refer to without thinking about them, interesting.
• 5 Social Logic ── Japanese Impressions and Empathy
  • The argument that Japanese composition is intended to be empathy to the members of society, interesting
  • Interesting distinction between opinion essays and opinion pieces and essays.
    • Interesting story about (way of) literary composition being regarded as Japanese pragmatism.
    • I feel a connection with the story of process of experience becoming [story intersections become atoms.
  • In the Japanese method, the experience is told first, and then the elements come out, which is different from an essay where the conclusion comes out of nowhere.
  • Ichitaro Kokubun's "conceptualization"

Chapter 3: Why do we find the thoughts of others illogical?

• 1 Logic incompatible with the linear argumentation (economy) of "self-assertion"
• 2 Logic incompatible with dialectical "procedure" (politics)
• 3 Logic incompatible with "one definite conclusion" (legal technology)
• 4 Logic incompatible with empathy for others (society)

End of Chapter Pluralistic Thinking──A way of thinking to choose values and live a rich life.

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