Reasoning And Decision Making
© Milton N. Bradley 2010
Introduction
The Role And Importance Of Reasoning
For as far back as the record of human society extends, it is not only marked but often dominated by conflict, ranging from the mild to the deadly. And the most recent research indicates that even creatures of considerably lesser intelligence, like the Great Apes, also exhibit nearly identical behavior. So it is only natural to wonder whether this is an inviolable and permanent condition of human existence, or whether we might somehow be able to modify it so that rational behavior becomes ascendant over the instinctual, which is clearly now dominant.
That this should be possible is the guiding thesis of this book.
Wikipedia provides this definition: "Reasoning is the cognitive process of looking for reasons, beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings." I prefer to think of it more simply, as "The logical mental process through which one arrives at answers to real world problems."
The rationale for the study of Reasoning and its associated Decision Making process derives directly from an understanding of the single factor that I believe constitutes the most important difference between human beings and almost all of the other creatures that share this Earth with us. This key difference is that, beyond certain ‘built-in” instinctual drives, almost all of the other creatures that inhabit this planet must learn everything they know from direct personal experience. But a human being can learn indirectly from the experiences of every person who ever lived, even over a gap of many centuries, provided only that said person communicated those experiences in some fashion.
This is crucially important because any person who doesn’t avail him/herself of this opportunity to learn from the experiences of others is voluntarily relinquishing his/her unique humanness, and effectively diminishing themselves to the intellectual status of a dog or a cat!! Another way to view the situation derives from philosopher Santayana’s sage observation that “Those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it.”
Somewhat more subtly, but essentially the same kind of thing happens if, instead of objectively searching for the truth, we instead voluntarily and uncritically accept as truth the unsubstantiated propositions promulgated by advocacy groups (social, political, religious) whose agenda may not (and frequently doesn’t) coincide with either our own or society’s best interests! So although the truth may already have been discovered and is there for our use if only we have the wit and resolve to recognize it, we all too often nevertheless cannot avail ourselves of it to solve our problems because of our self imposed blinders!
The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a basic set of tools with which to avoid this self defeating mental trap. If those tools are learned and appropriately applied, that will result in the maximum possible benefit. But even if all that the reader gains is an understanding of the few Guiding Principles stated in Chapter 3, that alone should make the effort and time expended in reading this book more than worthwhile. Whether and how those tools that the reader may acquire are used is quite another matter which is outside our present purview.
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