Wednesday, April 19, 2023

The Art of Logic in an Illogical World

 

One of my favorite activities is going to the local library, browsing and picking a book (sometimes by authors I don’t know) based on how interesting they look. It’s been very rewarding so far! This one I just finished is hands down one of my favorite books- I plan to own a copy of it for detailed reference . Highly recommend it! The author is a mathematician and writes about:

  • How to apply logic to real world ambiguous problems
  • What constitutes rationality
  • Being precise vs being pedantic
  • How important logical and emotional considerations are towards taking positions
  • How to break down one’s position with chains of logic, down to fundamental beliefs
  • What constitutes a good argument: and examples of what’s not- Straw-man arguments, personal attacks
  • Identifying false equivalences and false dichotomies
  • Openness to changing positions in the face of new and conflicting evidence as a reflection of rationality
  • Blind Loyalty vs Rational Support
  • How to integrate abstraction and mathematical concepts such as Category Theory to analyze social problems to build a more empathetic outlook
  • Why two logical people can still disagree with each other
  • Where logic stops- the limits of logic

And more!


No comments: