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> On Jan 21, 2017, at 1:21 PM, ngriffis <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ron, you mentioned Love of Wisdom, Seeking the Truth. Yes, that > seems to be the right path alright. Would you talk about some of the logic > traps you have found to be of most use to you? Is there a book on logic > traps that you found especially helpful? How did you teach yourself the > awareness to recognize those specific traps before you spoke or acted > illogically? Ron replies: Because I suffer from PTSD, I tend to be prone to obsessive self reflection. I cope using skills I've learned from several sources. The perennial: Stay in the now of experience it offers relief from the obsessive mind. Texts by Epictetus We're most helpful. Because the mind is obsessive it influences perception. There is a very helpful paper online: TRAPS OF TRADITIONAL LOGIC & DIALECTICS: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW TO AVOID THEM by Robert E. Horn The Lexington Institute Introduction We all try to avoid the common fallacies of deductive reasoning that teachers of thinking have helped us to identify. But recent research into the foundations of thinking suggests that some non-deductive fallacies may be more common, more insidious, and easier to fall into. And they result from built-in limitations to everyday thinking patterns about the phenomena change and stability. But since they are based on systematic distortions built into largely preconscious thought processes,they have, historically, been difficult to identify in a routine manner. Recently, with increasing sophistication in understanding our thought processes, examples of these traps are easier to notice, if only because we are more tuned to the casual errors in elaborating an argument. The contribution of this paper is to collect and categorize these traps and show how they are related directly to and, indeed, are somehow generated by the axioms of traditional and dialectical logic." The seven of traps that derive from traditional logic are: The Forever Changeless Trap. In this trap we think of the current condition as being the same forever. The Process-Event Trap. This trap leads us into the error of thinking in terms of object-like "events" where we would do better to think in terms of processes. The Solve It by Redefining It Trap. This could be called the Definition Can Do It Trap in that it attempts to solve problems by redefinition alone. The Independent Self Trap. In this trap we separate organism from environment, ourselves from our interdependence with others. The Isolated Problem Trap. In the grip of this trap we regard problems as unconnected to their wider contexts. The Single Effect Trap. In this trap we think that we can cause a single effect with no "side-effects." The Exclusive Alternatives Trap. Traditional logic tends to make us think in terms of either-or analysis. Many situations demand that we juggle more than two alternatives. I outline six potential dialectic traps: The More Is Better Trap. In this trap we assume that anything can be solved by application of more resources. The Force Can Do It Trap. In the grips of this trap we think in terms only of forcing a solution on the situation. The Conflicts Create Productive Change Trap. A direct implication of dialectical thought is the idea that you can create change by creating conflict and that conflict will produce beneficial results. The Inevitable Antagonism Trap. In this trap we assume that there is inevitable conflict between persons, organisms, groups, nation-states. The No Limits Trap. This trap assumes limitless resources and arenas for action. The There's Got to Be a Winner Trap. This trap is the misapplication of the idea of a winner and loser to situations where it is not applicable. These traps result from the unconscious acceptance of the point of view implicit in the axioms of dialectical logic, which are: 1. The axiom of transformation Sufficient changes in quantity may produce changes in quality. 2. The axiom of interaction between opposites Opposing forces produce a transformation of the system which includes both of them. 3. The axiom of negation of the negation The inevitable conflict between thesis and its antithesis produces something different from either of them, the synthesis. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
