BUILDING A LOGICAL MIND ---Episode 1

                  HUMANS ARE ANIMALS THAT REASON 

    Reasoning is as natural and familiar a process as breathing, but it is also a skill in which indefinite improvement is possible for anybody who is not a genius. Unfortunately, too many people engage in illogical thinking and cling to it in the face of all the evidence that proves them wrong. 
   The logical person, being presented with an answer different from her own, says, "Hmmmmm. Let me follow the steps of the other solution and see if they work out. Well, what do you know ? They do !" The illogical person in the same situation, typically says, "I'm so-in-so years old, and I've known the answer since 19-something-or-other, and I don't have to work out the solution because I already know it." 
   Conundrums and riddles aside, this is one of the most common situations in everyday life---hanging on tightly to what one "knows" instead of opening one's mind and letting in the fresh air of simple logic. 
   We can use the precepts of defined approaches to the truth and get some idea of how to sue these precepts in everyday life and problem-solving. 
   Logic isn't something you leave behind in college. At least, we shouldn't. Because if we do, we'll have difficulty just getting through the day, not to mention accomplishing even the most modest of our goals. Living logically eliminates many of life's errors. 
   Having just completed reading How We Think, by the philosopher / educator John Dewey, I'm impressed with his suggested steps for establishing a logical approach to arriving at the heart of a problem and solving it. 

     The first step is to become aware of the problem. The second is to define it and analyze it, establishing its parameters. The third step is to approach it rationally from different angles, considering a number of options and various working hypotheses for its solution. And the last step is to select a solution and verify its effectiveness. 

                                    THINK FOR YOURSELF

   We shouldn't just read problems when we come across them in print : we should solve them for ourselves. Here's a good one to start with : A man is looking at a portrait on a wall and says : 

     "Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man's father is my father's son." 

     At whose portrait is he looking ? Before giving the answer, let's analyze the riddle, approach it rationally, select a solution and verify its effectiveness. 

     Let's call the man speaking "John" and the man in the portrait "Mr. X" and then phrase the sentence in a more normal conversational way without changing its meaning : 
     John says : "I'm an only child, and Mr. X's father is my father's son." 
     If John were to solve the puzzle himself, he could go on to say : "And just who is my father's son ? As I have no brothers, it can only be me ! Then Mr. X's father is me, and Mr. X is my son." 
     If we solve the problem ourselves, we must say that if John is an only child, and Mr. X's father is John's father's son, then Mr. X 's father must be John. And if Mr. X's father is John, Mr. X is John's son. 

       SEPARATE THE PROBLEM FROM THE SYMPTOM

Let's look at each of these common life situations and decide which illustrates a symptom and which illustrates a problem :

1) You're forty years old now, and you have to hold a book farther away in order to read it clearly.

2) You're forty years old now, and you get tired much more easily than you used to. 

3) You have two children now, and your husband spends less time with you than he did before you first got pregnant. 

4) You have two children now, and you weigh twenty pounds more than you did before you first got pregnant. 

    The answers ? #1 and #3 are problems ; #2 and #4 are symptoms. Here's why : 

1) A change in the ability to focus is a problematic, but normal part of the aging process. 

2) Getting tired much more easily at the age of forty is not normal and should be considered a symptom instead.

3) If you now have two children, it's nearly impossible for your husband to spend as much time with you as he did before for the simple reason that you are probably offering him less time. And if he spends time with the children himself, that's even more time away from the two of you. The situation may be a problem, but it isn't a symptom of anything that isn't inherent in the circumstances. 

4) Giving birth to children doesn't increase your weight, and if you weigh too much now, it can only be a symptom of another problem. 

                 DEFINE AND ANALYZE THE PROBLEM

   A large part of this is admitting the problem exists. But there's a key element to be remembered, an important part of using logic successfully in life. We must learn to approach problems rationally and not emotionally, or we won't be able to solve them.  Hating a problem won't solve it. 

   Okay, let's define the problem, using the above examples. 

1) You're forty years old now, and you have to hold a book farther away in order to read it clearly.

2) You're forty years old now, and you get tired much more easily than you used to. 

3) You have two children now, and your husband spends less time with you than he did before. 

4) You have two children now,and you weigh twenty pounds more than you did before you first got pregnant. 

   Now, compare your answers with these :

1) You're simply growing older.

2) Unless you're ill, you're not exercising enough and perhaps eating the wrong foods. To say here that you're just "not as young as you used to be" is to avoid recognizing the problem. If you were a hundred years old, it would be different. But you're not. 

3) There is less time now to spend with each other. Saying "he doesn't appreciate me" is an emotional, not a logical response. There were no other circumstances detailed in the original problem to indicate that likelihood.

4) Unless you're ill, you're eating too much and exercising too little. Saying here that "motherhood changes a woman;s figure, " is, again,  avoiding the recognition of the problem and the need to solve it. Motherhood may well cause changes in a woman's figure, but it doesn't make her weigh more.