Page 88 - (DK) How to be a GENIUS?

ery
Everyone thinks, but some people think in a less
one thin
ed reasoning
y
way
The
s
than
other
d
ngss
g
say
disciplined way than others. They say thingsthings Flawe
that sharks are fish, you can
If you s
might sayay that she
t

s
h
m
i
g
that don’t add up. Someone might say If you s say that all fish live in water
and t
ay that she really
a
hates all animals but then sa con nclude that sharks live in water.
wim and, since penguins are
likes her neighbor’s cat. The t But t if you say that penguins can
ttwo statements
But
swi
ddon’t know
contradict each other, so you d ds, all birds can swim, this is
bird arly wrong. The reasoning is
which one to take seriously. P eeeople who clea ed because the concluding
flawe
be
b
talk like this are often said to b ment isn’t a logical progression
statem
e first one.
lacking in l ogic the y ca n t fr rom the
lacking in logic—they can’t
analyze what they say and see
the flaws in it. Logic is all
about thinking clearly.
Use your head
Logic involves using sound reasoning to
OY T THE
draw the right conclusions from known
TROYS THE
TR ROY YS TH HE
ROYS YS YS TH HE
TR ROY THE
STROYS T THE
ROYS TH
TRO OY
DESTR ROY
RO OY
ST TR ROY
DE ESTROY
facts. If you cannot fault the reasoning, DESTROYS THE
AUSE
AUSE
AUS
A AU US
BAC CTE ERI THA CA AUS
BA ACT TERIA TH HAT
it is likely that the conclusions are A A AT CA AUSE
TERIA
correct. Checking the reasoning is an BACTERIA THAT CA AU USE
TOOTH DE ECAY
Y Y Y Y
ECAY
TOOTH DECAY
AY
important part of logical thinking. TOOT TH DEC CAY
But perfectly good reasoning is
no use if the basic facts are wrong,
so you have to check those as well.
Testing the argument
T
T he ability to test the argument is important when you can’t test
th
he conclusion. Bacteria are well known to cause tooth decay,
s o it is logical to argue that a toothpaste that destroys bacteria
will help prevent tooth decay. You have to trust the logic,
w
b ecause you have no way of testing the effect on your teeth.
86
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