Logical Thinking

by
Adjunct Associate Professor Graham Durant-Law CSC, PhD
BSc, MHA, MKM, Grad Dip Def, Grad Dip Mngt, Grad Cert Hlth Fin, psc.

Copyright © 2013 – Graham Durant-Law

 Seminar Administration

 Ablutions
 Fire escape
 Seminar topics
– thinking elements
– knowledge and facts
– logic and reasoning
– divergent and convergent thinking
– question types
– sorting and categorisation
– argument maps
 Break between each session
In seeking wisdom,
 End time - 16:30
the first step is silence,
 Chatham House rule the second is listening,
 Do the third remembering,
the fourth practicing,
– ask questions
the fifth – teaching others.
– challenge
– participate — Solomon ibn Gabirol

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 Do You Understand
Your Thinking Biases?

http://weknowmemes.com/2011/10/the-educational-system-comic/
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 Thinking Elements

 All thinking is defined by the

eight elements of thought
shown in the adjacent
diagram.
 Thinking
– generates purpose
– raises questions
– uses information
– utilises concepts
– makes inferences
– makes assumptions
– generates implications
– embodies a point of view
Elder, L & Paul, R 2012, The Thinker's Guide to Analytic Thinking, The Foundation for Critical Thinking, Sonoma State University, California.

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 Knowledge and Facts

Knowledge

 ‘… acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, from study or

investigation’.
 ‘ … perception of fact and truth and being cognisant or aware of fact
or circumstance’.
 ‘… body of truths or facts accumulated by human beings in the course
of time’.
Facts

 ‘… has really happened or is the case’.

 ‘… truth known by actual experience or observation’.
 ‘… something said to be true or supposed to have happened’ .

The Macquarie dictionary 2005, 4th edn, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW.

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 Truth

 Analytic truths are statements whose denial leads to a contradiction.

– Analytic truths have a law-like generality with no exceptions.
– Truth is arrived at simply by analysing the subject term in the statement.
• Example. The assertion that ‘all mothers are female’ is an analytic truth because all mothers
can be defined as a female parent. To deny the statement that ‘all mothers are female’ results
in the absurd assertion that not all female parents are female.

 Synthetic truths are statements that are true but can be denied without creating
a contradiction.
– A synthetic truth contains two or more unrelated concepts.
– Truth is arrived at using experience and beliefs.
• Example. The statement ‘… most human mothers are over twelve years old’ is a synthetic
truth because it contains two unrelated concepts – the concept of being over twelve years old
and the notion of being a human mother. We know the statement is true, based on experience
and not simply by understanding the meanings of the words.

Horner, C & Westacott, E 2000, Thinking through philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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 Beliefs

 Beliefs are something that we hold

to be true.
 For an individual, beliefs are facts
that are derived from either analytic
or synthetic truths, or from some
other source such as an
authoritative (or not so
authoritative) reference or person.
 Our dictionary definition of
knowledge says it consists of facts
and truths.
 Does a mistaken belief result in a
fact?
 Can knowledge be based on
mistaken, but justified, beliefs?

Everitt, N & Fisher, A 1995, Modern epistemology, McGraw Hill, London.

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 Knowledge as Justified True Belief

Equation 1.
– proposition P is true, and
– person S believes that P is true, and
– S has adequate justification for believing that P is true.

But the justification for the belief could be wrong!

Equation 2.
– P is true
– S believes that P is true, and
– What P is about is causally connected in an appropriate way to S’s belief
that P is true.

But it does not account for situations where we know something but the
‘knowing’ is not caused by the thing. For example, we can know that 13 is
a prime number.
Allen, B 2004, Knowledge and civilization, Westview Press, Oxford

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 Logic

 Logic is the philosophical study of

valid reasoning. It is the
underpinning of all reasoned
argument.
 Logic is used, or should be used, in
all intellectual activities and
analysis.
 Logic is usually expressed in the
form of arguments. For example
1. proposition P is true
2. person S believes that P is true, and
3. What P is about is causally
connected in an appropriate way to
S’s belief that P is true.

 Arguments are evaluated on the

basis of evidence, assumptions and
inference. http://star.psy.ohio-state.edu/coglab/Miracle.html

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 Evidence and Inference

Evidence Inference
 Evidence in its broadest sense includes  Inferences are derived interpretations or
everything that is used to determine or conclusions.
demonstrate the truth of an assertion.
 Inferences should logically follow from
 Evidence consists of facts and data. the evidence.

 Evidence may lead to a direct proof or a  Key Questions:

derived proof.
– What conclusions am I coming to?
 Key Questions: – Is my inference logical?
– What evidence do I need? – Are there other conclusions I should
– Is the evidence relevant? consider?
– Do I have sufficient evidence? – Does the interpretation make sense?
– Do I have opposing and supporting – Does the solution necessarily follow
evidence? from the data?
– How do I know the evidence is – Is there an alternative plausible
accurate? conclusion?

Elder, L & Paul, R 2012, The Thinker's Guide to Analytic Thinking, The Foundation for Critical Thinking, Sonoma State University, California.

Copyright © 2013 – Graham Durant-Law 10

 Assumptions versus Inferences

Assumptions Inferences
 Assumptions often operate at the sub-  Inferences operate at the conscious level
conscious level of thought. of thought.

 Assumptions often are taken for granted  Inference are a step of thought leading to
beliefs. a conclusion that something is true,
based on something else being true, or
 Surfacing assumptions can reveal bias, appearing to be true.
stereotyping, prejudices, and other
irrational forms of thinking.  Inferences can be justified or unjustified.

 Justifiable assumptions lead to  All inferences are based on stated or

reasonable inferences. unstated assumptions.

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 Deductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning
 Deductive reasoning involves using given
true premises to reach a conclusion that is
also true.
 Deductive reasoning arrives at a specific
conclusion from a general principle.
 Deductive reasoning links premises with
conclusions.
 If the rules and logic of deduction are
followed, this procedure guarantees an
accurate conclusion.

 Example:
1. If an angle is >90° then it is an obtuse
angle. (theory)
2. Angle A is an obtuse angle. (hypothesis)
3. A=120° (observation)
4. A is an obtuse angle (confirmation)
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php

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 Inductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning
 Inductive reasoning constructs or
evaluates propositions that are
abstractions of observations of individual
instances of members of the same class.
 Inductive reasoning is also known as
hypothesis construction because any
conclusions made are based on educated
predictions.
 Inductive reasoning allows for the
possibility that the conclusion is false, even
when all of the premises are true. The
answer is probably true.

 Example:
1. Joe is a human. (observation)
2. Most humans are right-handed. (pattern)
3. Joe is right-handed. (hypothesis)
4. The probability that Joe is right-handed http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php
is 75%. (theory)
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 Abductive Reasoning

Abductive Reasoning
 Abductive reasoning is similar to inductive
reasoning, but differs in that observations
are always incomplete.

 Abductive reasoning begins with an

incomplete set of observations and
proceeds to the likeliest possible
explanation for the set.

 The abductive process can be creative,

intuitive, and sometimes even
revolutionary.

 The answer or solution is likely to be true

based on the available observations.

 Example:
1. A medical diagnosis is an application of
abductive reasoning: given a set of
symptoms, what is the diagnosis that http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php

would best explain most of them?

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 Divergent versus Convergent Thinking

Divergent Thinking Convergent Thinking

Facts

Facts Answer Facts

Facts

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 Divergent and Convergent Thinking
Sequence
 Where possible begin with divergent
thinking.
– The more ideas the better.
– Don’t evaluate ideas yet. Brainstorm
– Strange ideas are ok.

 Focus on winnowing out the impractical,

and clustering ideas that are similar (the
start of convergent thinking). Collect, Cull,
– Collect facts for each idea. & Cluster
– Build one idea upon the other.

 Select ideas that promising (convergent

thinking). Select Ideas
– Promising ideas are supported by facts. or Solution
– Promising ideas are intuitively practical.

Jones, M 1998, The thinker's toolkit: 14 powerful techniques for problem-solving, Three Rivers Press, New York.

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 Question Types

 Factual
– Soliciting reasonably simple, straight forward answers based on obvious facts or
awareness.
– These are usually at the lowest level of cognitive or affective processes and answers
are frequently either right or wrong.
 Convergent
– Answers to these types of questions are usually within a very finite range of
acceptable accuracy.
– These may be at several different levels of cognition - comprehension, application,
analysis, or ones where the answerer makes inferences or conjectures based on
personal awareness, or on material read, presented or known.
 Divergent
– These questions explore different avenues and create many different variations and
alternative answers or scenarios.
– Correctness may be based on logical projections, may be contextual, or arrived at
through basic knowledge, conjecture, inference, projection, creation, intuition, or
imagination.
– These types of questions require analysis, synthesise, or evaluation of a knowledge
base, and then project or predict different outcomes.
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 Question Types (continued)

 Evaluative
– These types of questions usually require sophisticated levels of
cognitive and/or emotional judgment.
– In attempting to answer evaluative questions, analysts may be
combining multiple logical and/or affective thinking process,
or comparative frameworks.
– Often an answer is analysed at multiple levels and from different
perspectives before arriving at newly synthesised information or
conclusions.
 Combinations
– These are questions that blend any combination of factual,
convergent, divergent and evaluative questions,

http://www4.uwsp.edu/Education/lwilson/learning/quest2.htm

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 The Six Knows

 All questions are one or more of

the “Six Knows”.
 The Six Knows combined with
the previous question types
determine the thinking tool that
is most appropriate for the task.
 For example:
– Chronologies and timelines are the
appropriate tool to answer a “Know
When” question.

– Sorting and categorisation tools are

useful to answer “Know What”
questions.

Lundvall, B & Johnson, B 1994, 'The learning economy', Journal of Industry Studies, vol. 1, pp. 23-42.

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 Sorting and Categorising

 Arguably, the first step of analysis is to

sort and categorise data.
 Even the simplest problems can benefit
from sorting and categorisation.
 Categories can be discrete or Brainstorm
hierarchical.
 Categories are not always obvious.
 Sorting and categorisation is subject to
cultural and personal bias. Collect, Cull,
& Cluster

Select Ideas
or Solution

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 Exercise - Sorting and Categorisation

Put the following into a category, or Put the following into a category, or
categories, and justify your answer. categories, and justify your answer.

Chiu, L.-H. (1972). A cross-cultural comparison of cognitive styles in Chinese and American children.
International Journal of Psychology, 7(4), 235-242.

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 Argument Mapping

• An argument map is a visual

representation of the structure of
your logic using a visual tree.

• Argument mapping helps groups

achieve a shared understanding of
wicked problems.

• It uses a notation called IBIS (Issue

Based Information System) to map
the relationship between questions,
ideas, and arguments.

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 Exercise – Flesh Out ‘How?’ and ‘Budget’

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 Questions

‘The real questions refuse to be placated… They are the questions asked most
frequently and answered most inadequately, the ones that reveal their true
natures slowly, reluctantly, most often against your will.’

Ingrid Bengis, Author

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