Tools of the Trade
A number of tools are used to validate the soundness of beliefs and theories. The meaning of logic is often used interchangeably with reason. A lack of contradiction and the ability to build one truth from another truth is the common and most straightforward understanding of logic. Logic is used to build one truth from a preceding truth. If A and B is true then C is also true 'If all men die and I am a man, I will die '. A logical argument does not contain contradictions 'If all men die and I am a man, I will not die'. This last statement showing a logical contradiction.
Although often used to mean reason, logic is not the only tool of the trade for rationality. Similarity is commonly used as a tool of rational thought. If two things look like each other, there is a strong possibility they will act like each other – If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands(Douglas Adams) –
The concept of proximity is also used in rational thought. Events which happen close to each other are more likely to be connected than things which happen at a distance. If two people in close contact with each other fall ill, it is more likely that the illness is the same than two people falling ill who never have contact with each other.
Cause and effect is a commonly accepted tool of rational thought. Every action has a cause and every action has an effect. A white snooker ball hitting a red snooker ball causes the red ball to move. The movement of the white ball was caused by the impact of a snooker cue. The movement of the cue was caused by the snooker player and so on. Every action is a cause of a future effect, every action is an effect of a previous cause.
These are the common tools of rational thought, but they are tools, not truth. They are tools which help build theories which are worthy of testing. They are useful because they have stood the test of experience. They have helped shape theories which have been successfully tested. They often lead to successful theories, but they prove nothing in themselves. The theory no matter how rational, no matter how well built using the tools of rational thought always needs tested against real world experience. Truth cannot be found by thought alone, it must be found by experience.
Although often used to mean reason, logic is not the only tool of the trade for rationality. Similarity is commonly used as a tool of rational thought. If two things look like each other, there is a strong possibility they will act like each other – If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands(Douglas Adams) –
The concept of proximity is also used in rational thought. Events which happen close to each other are more likely to be connected than things which happen at a distance. If two people in close contact with each other fall ill, it is more likely that the illness is the same than two people falling ill who never have contact with each other.
Cause and effect is a commonly accepted tool of rational thought. Every action has a cause and every action has an effect. A white snooker ball hitting a red snooker ball causes the red ball to move. The movement of the white ball was caused by the impact of a snooker cue. The movement of the cue was caused by the snooker player and so on. Every action is a cause of a future effect, every action is an effect of a previous cause.
These are the common tools of rational thought, but they are tools, not truth. They are tools which help build theories which are worthy of testing. They are useful because they have stood the test of experience. They have helped shape theories which have been successfully tested. They often lead to successful theories, but they prove nothing in themselves. The theory no matter how rational, no matter how well built using the tools of rational thought always needs tested against real world experience. Truth cannot be found by thought alone, it must be found by experience.
posted by craig fotheringham at 6:22 AM
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