6 Good Reasons To Study Logic & All aBOUT LOGIC
6 Good Reasons To Study Logic & All aBOUT LOGIC
Lesson 2
What is the importance of studying logic?
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This is important.
You ought to think it over logically.
It seems easy to make the case that English and math are must-take first-year
classes (although, admittedly, it would have been hard for me to explain the value
of algebra as a college freshman myself). You may even want to include Speech or
Communication in this list, given how often the task of, you know, talking to other
people seems to pop up.
One class that most likely does not appear on your radar as indispensable is
introductory logic. But this is an oversight, and an illogical one at that. Taking a
course in basic logic or critical thinking will yield real and immediate returns that
impact your life in and out of the classroom. Here are four reasons why you should
sign up for an intro to logic course sooner rather than later.
1. Logic is a foundational discipline.
“The skills you take away from a semester of introductory logic, you can bring
with you to literally every other class of your college career.”
Logic can be a highly specialized field that deals in weird, arcane symbols. This
might give the mathematically disinclined the heebie-jeebies. But, at its most basic
level, logic is all about arguments. An argument—not the kind you have with your
roommate over what to eat for dinner—is a chain of reasoning that connects certain
claims to certain conclusions. Whether you're an astrophysicist, a moral
philosopher, a web designer, a baseball pitcher, a social worker, a parent, or a
panhandler, you make or make use of arguments all the time. Logic helps to render
these arguments transparent; it uncovers their strengths and flaws.
The foundational character of logic makes it a great exercise for the development
of what researchers call metacognition, i.e. the capacity to think about your
thinking. Since this kind of thinking is about the process of thinking itself and not
about any specific task or topic, practicing it in the relatively sterile confines of the
logic classroom will only serve to sharpen your reasoning for other, less abstract
applications. Thus, the skills you take away from a semester of introductory logic,
you can bring with you to literally every other class of your college career.
Considering law school, grad school, or an MBA program? Solid exposure to the
principles of logic will assist you in acing the LSAT, GMAT, or GRE.
2. Logic can help you evaluate your own beliefs.
Knowing whether your beliefs are "valid" or not—if your reasons really buy you
what you think they do—is an invaluable skill. But it's a skill that takes practice,
and often more than a little guidance. Most introductory logic courses offer such
metacognitive guidance as their primary goal. Need to reassess the premises
behind your support for political candidate X? Want to make sure the interpretive
paper you're working on for a freshman literature class stands up to logical
scrutiny? Are you now vaguely uncertain about religious convictions that formerly
seemed obviously true? The principles and habits exercised in an elementary logic
class apply equally well to academic and extra-academic problem-solving pursuits.
The clearer you can be about your own reasons for adopting certain values and
reaching certain conclusions, the better. This remains true in the classroom,
boardroom, courtroom, and living room.
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Take logic early on in your college career to reap the maximum benefits.
Training in the principles of logic helps to clarify assumptions, beliefs, opinions,
values, hopes, and fears—in short: the basic content of your mental life. Getting
clear about what you hold as true is useful for a number of reasons. Even if the
belief-system you subscribe to survives careful rational scrutiny, the process of
scrutiny itself yields a deeper, more nuanced understanding of your convictions.
Deep understanding has a long shelf life and tends to transfer well to other areas
whose connection to the original problem may not be obvious. Experts say learning
is primarily a matter of building connections and pathways between heterogeneous
ideas. Fortunately, there's a college class dedicated to the practice and study of just
this very thing. Take logic early on in your college career to reap the maximum
benefits.
3. Logic can help you to be more persuasive.
When you're clearer about the content of your mental life, you can more effectively
communicate that content to others. Rhetoric is an ancient art that studies
techniques of persuasion and effective communication in general. Students of
Communication know that "logos"—logical argumentation—is just one of three
basic rhetorical strategies, along with "pathos" (emotional connection to the
audience), and "ethos" (having a credible character). One can certainly enjoy
success as a persuasive communicator on the basis of sympathy or reputation
alone. However, deficiency in "logos" tends to make such success relatively short-
lived.
In the long run, demonstrably valid inferences are more likely to withstand the
pressure of counter-arguments. A skilled rhetorician can easily pull the proverbial
rug out from under arguments that rely on coercion, intimidation, or appeals to
emotion. Typically it is enough to simply identify pathos-heavy arguments as such
in order to sap much of their persuasive vigor. Pointing out that an argument is
"too logical" doesn't tend to have the same effect. Why not? Emotional appeals
work wonderfully on those with sympathetic or easy-to-anger dispositions, but not
everyone is warm, caring, or prone to righteous indignation. The force of logical
inference, on the other hand, transcends widely varying, subjective emotional
tendencies towards something like "objective" truth, or that which remains true
regardless of who is thinking it. Moreover, emotions like pity, anger, or fear are
more likely to work rhetorically when supported by logical arguments that are
capable of standing on their own. Whether you're debating with classmates in a
political science class, lobbying a professor for a better grade, or trying to sway
your parents to pay for that backpacking trip in Europe, the ability to communicate
valid inferences will serve you well in a variety of contexts.
4. Logic can help you spot fallacies.
You live in a media-saturated world where you're constantly bombarded on all
sides by efforts to move you in one direction or another. Politicians, advertisers,
media pundits, lawyers, professors, etc. are all trying to convince you to buy what
they're selling. We've already seen how introductory logic can help you clarify
your own beliefs and communicate persuasively, but it's equally practical for
clarifying and judging the rationality of others' claims.
“As a foundational discipline, logic exercises skills and habits that are pertinent to
virtually every other human endeavor, academic and otherwise.”
A "fallacy" is an error in reasoning that is common enough to warrant a name for
it. In logic, there are "formal" fallacies and "informal" ones. As the name suggests,
a "formal" fallacy is a bad inference whose badness has to do with the
abstract formor structure of the logical argument. While interesting and important,
these fallacies occur so infrequently and in such dry contexts that we needn't
consider them here. It's really the "informal" variety of fallacious reasoning that
you want to know about, since it involves the specific content of arguments, not
just the symbolic language in which that content is represented. Even very smart
people sometimes commit informal fallacies.
Here are a few examples:
"My dad bought a Buick once and its transmission had all kinds of problems.
Buicks must be terrible cars." While it could be true that Buicks are terrible cars,
the sample size of one Buick is not sufficient to support this conclusion. This is
called a hasty generalization.
"Bob is arguing that teachers ought to receive better pay, but he's a narcoleptic jerk
so we shouldn't pay him any attention." This is an argument ad hominem or against
the person. Say what you want about Bob's personality or sleep-proneness, but it
shouldn't have any bearing on the cogency of his argument.
"Either we supply our cops with military-grade equipment, or we sit back and
watch the crime in our society skyrocket." This is a false dichotomy, a false
dilemma, or an example of black and white thinking. Beyond straightforward
manipulation or fear-mongering, there is rarely a reason to reduce a diverse range
of possibilities or consequences to a simple binary.
The ability to identify fallacies like these where and when they pop up can save
you time, money, integrity, and self-respect.
***
A semester of introductory logic yields great returns for both the classroom and
everyday life. Taking logic alongside more traditional freshman courses like
composition or college algebra can give you a real leg-up as you transition to
advanced coursework. As a foundational discipline, logic exercises skills and
habits that are pertinent to virtually every other human endeavor, academic and
otherwise. The metacognitive skills developed in basic logic can assist you in
becoming a clearer, more persuasive thinker and communicator. Finally, the
training you'll receive in an elementary logic class in spotting informal fallacies
will help you to preserve your sanity and dignity in our increasingly media-
saturated, sound-byte punctuated world.