worldlogicleague

Mindy, I don't really know much about current textbooks or curricula organization. My logic game does come with a short manual on the fundamentals of critical thinking for non-specialists. I will have to leave these problems to the educators, and hopefully via improved critical thinking they will solve them Good points about what needs to be addressed to improve thinking. Much of what you mention is already subsumed under the current definition of critical thinking. For example, from criticalthinking.org: Why Critical Thinking? The Problem Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated. A Definition Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. The Result A well cultivated critical thinker: raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely; gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards; thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems. Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism. (Taken from Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008). So we all think and critical thinking is essentially learning to do this thinking in an organized and objective way as opposed to a disorganized and egocentric way. I agree completely with your point on meaning and terms. This is the beauty of the categorical reasoning of classical logic. It forces you to separate out the object classes and define them, before making judgments and arguments with them so that for instance you don't employ two different definitions for a term in an argument. This isolating of object terms and their definition is a critical benefit of the conception operation in reflective thinking. Elwood

Your point in logical form is: No existing objects are objects without an observer. Any single instance of an object that existed without an observer would make your proposition false. Pluto is such an object. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Was there no such object as Pluto in 1929 before it was observed by humanity? Obviously there was - it did not just happen to magically come into existence in 1930 when it was observed, by some giant coincidence. Therefore your proposition is false. So this proves for me conclusively that objects exist independently of their observation.

Hi Mindy, Interesting questions. As to the three mental operations of reflective thinking: conception, judgment, and reasoning, yes I think the natural psychological process underlying reflection is important to understand and purposely and consciously control, to improve ones critical thinking ability. Classical logic needs to be expanded and modernized somewhat based on some principles found in Veatch's book, Two logics, and I have done this and call it simply neo-classical logic. The problems with schools in relation to the complex 21st century have been clearly described in reports produced by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. They also conducted a survey of US voters and found that 90% said that schools need to do a better job in teaching critical thinking. So the groundwork has been well laid by this major organization. Practice makes perfect in logic - the art of reasoning, and in training the mind to flow as described above, and move purposely and objectively from evidence to conclusions. The logic game my website provides offers a fun, challenging, competitive way to do this for fifth graders on up, and our mission is to help in the improvement of the 21st century skill of critical thinking and promote the 2nd age of reason. The website will go live in 2/3 weeks (going through final testing now), and then I will conduct a major ad campaign on Facebook directly targeting 150,000 students a month. I'm also going to start a Facebook forum page where students can discuss this still little known corporation/government identified need for developing critical thinking skills, and the implications of this 2nd age of reason for their future. Also I will be conducting an experiment at the local university where we pre-test subjects in deductive logic, have them play the logic game, and then post-test them to see if they improve. Based on a logic test conducted by Johnson-Laird on students, the resulting improvement should be major. I'm posting here to get feedback, input, suggestions and comments from you already higher-order thinking people, and to see what I can learn.

Hi Michael, Great website. I did see 'the Veatch Corner' and wasn't expecting that! For me, critical thinking - better or worse - is the underlying, fundamental human ability that gives rise to our advances, including the Information Age, informatics, and even advances / better methods down on the farm. So to improve critical thinking is to improve all human activities, and this is why the US government and major corporations are now supporting and promoting it as a vital need for this complex, knowledge based 21st century. They have seen the light: the 2nd age of reason has arrived. Microsoft, Apple and Dell are a part of the 21stcenturyskills.org partnership because they realize even the coders use this fundamental skill to do what they do. Plus they must be objective, analyze customer situations, present ideas, and communicate logically in collaboration and innovation, and this requires critical thinking skills. Their wizardry in PHP and HTML won't help them with that! From the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website (21stcenturyskills.org) -- Every child in American needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders in the 21st century. There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces. To successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills into their teaching and learning. Twenty first century skills are key to improving our nation's competitiveness in a knowledge driven economy. Twenty first century skills are the lifeblood of a productive workforce in today's global, knowledge-based economy. As more of our economic competitors move to foster 21st century skills development within their educational systems, the United States faces a critical challenge to keep pace in preparing our students to meet the demands of global community and tomorrow's workforce. The Partnership's framework for learning in the 21st century is based on the essential skills that our children need to succeed as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership has identified six key elements of a 21st century education ... 3. Learning and Thinking Skills. As much as students need to learn academic content, they also need to know how to keep learning — and make effective and innovative use of what they know — throughout their lives. Learning and Thinking Skills are comprised of: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Communication Skills Creativity and Innovation Skills Collaboration Skills Information and Media Literacy Skills Contextual Learning Skills In a seminal study on critical thinking and education in 1941, Edward Glaser defines critical thinking as follows The ability to think critically, as conceived in this volume, involves three things: ( 1 ) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one's experiences, (2) knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and (3) some skill in applying those methods. Critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine things in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends. It also generally requires ability to recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems, to gather and marshal pertinent information, to recognize unstated assumptions and values, to comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discrimination, to interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments, to recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions, to draw warranted conclusions and generalizations, to put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives, to reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience, and to render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life." (Edward M. Glaser, An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teacher's College, Columbia University, 1941). So this is the fundamental skill that has been identified as necessary for everyone in this complex 21st century. And this is the basis for identifying these times as the dawning of the 2nd Age of Reason. To put it poetically we are transitioning from basing education on the "3R's" to basing it on the 4R's: reading, writing, arithmetic, and reasoning. Elwood

Thanks Ted, I haven't read it. My realm of expertise is classical logic, and Veatch makes a strong case for keeping it around as a practical logic for use at school, work, and in daily life. Also he had some insights that would solve some of its problems, and so allow for its modernization. My motivation is the recent 21stcenturyskills.org report where the major corporations and DOE concluded that 21st century jobs are often knowledge based, and require you to think on your feet, solve problems, communicate logically, analyze situations, and understand, collaborate, and innovate on complex systems. Thus to survive and succeed in this much more complex and high tech 21st century, we must teach and develop sound reasoning skills. The 21st century demands it, and has spontaneously and quite naturally spawned a 2nd age of reason. This 2nd age of reason completely revolves around these economic and complex problem solving reasons. And a Veatch based 'neo-classical logic' would solve this critical need to upgrade student's (and everyone's) reasoning skills.

Hello, my name is Elwood Long and I'm the owner of the soon to be live worldlogicleague.com (logic game website). I'm a big fan of Henry Veatch and specifically his groundbreaking work, Two Logics. I'm very interested in discussions with you all on the future and possibilities of a practical, classical type logic for the masses, inspired by a key insight found in Veatch's book. The hot topic in education today is "21st century skills", which includes amongst other things critical thinking. The US Department of Education and major corporations, including Microsoft, Apple, Ford, Dell, Oracle, etc. have formed a partnership 21stcenturyskills.org to advance a program of teaching critical thinking and the other 21st century skills in the schools. So the 2nd age of reason has arrived! They have determined that for our children's survival and success in the 21st century we must start teaching sound reasoning or critical thinking along with the standard core subjects. So the central, already agreed upon definition and purpose of this 2nd age of reason is that our survival and success in this complex, global, knowledge based, high tech 21st century depends on advancing our ability in sound reasoning. I'm also seeking discussion and input from you all on this newly dawning 2nd age of reason.

The conclusion is literally true, but appears paradoxical because the term consciousness is being used equivocally - with two different meanings. The conclusion is true if one says that a person's consciousness (being conscious of something) is independent of (his) consciousness (of the fact that he is conscious). In order to be conscious, one must be conscious of some thing. That thing can be, but not need be, that one is conscious. In fact, most of the time we are not actively aware of the fact that we are conscious - since most of the time we are concentrating on other matters. Premise one is ambiguous because it doesn't fully explain what this "independence" is. "Existence is independent of consciousness" can be better stated as "the existence of an existent is independent from one's consciousness of that existent." This applies even with self consciousness - since self consciousness and consciousness of self consciousness are two separate things. One can know. One can know that one knows. And one can know that one knows that one knows. (Okay, I'll stop there.) And all three levels are different. Animals and young children know things without knowing that they know them. Children who have formed a "theory of mind" know that they know things. And people who have taken the first steps of philosophy (or schoolyard Socraticism) - however explicitly or implicitly - can come to know that they know that they know things. Roger, all this is perfectly clear, and I am sure that you know it. Hi, very glad to have found this forum. Cool argument. I agree that the conclusion is literally true, but would assert that the problem is with defining "objects which are independent of consciousness". I don't find anything paradoxical or illogical with this argument given this, and actually find it informative. Given that "objects" will here be applicable to both unicorns and apples we have: Definition: objects which are independent of consciousness -- objects which depend on no external consciousness to exist. Premise 1: Objects which exist are objects which are independent of consciousness. Premise 2: Objects which are consciousness are objects which exist. Conclusion: Objects which are consciousness are objects which are independent of consciousness. In other words: Objects which are consciousness are objects which depend on no external consciousness to exist. I find this to be both true and rather informative, plus perhaps even the point and application of premise 1. And now it can be seen clearly how also any existing object could replace consciousness, and the conclusion would be valid and true, given the premises are true. Now you might say ah, but this makes premise 1 veer close to an A=A formulation, so we don't have the requisite three terms of valid syllogisms. But I would assert that 'objects which exist' and 'objects which depend on no external consciouness to exist' refer to two separate classes. For there could theoreticaly be members of the first class that don't belong to the second class (i.e., they do depend on external consciousness to exist) Anyway, thanks for posting this very interesting argument! Elwood Long