(December 11, 2021 at 10:57 pm)SlowCalculations Wrote:
(December 11, 2021 at 10:52 pm)polymath257 Wrote: One thing I have learned from teaching math is that logic isn't a natural way of thinking. Even those who have an aptitude have a LOT of difficulty when it comes to coming up with and writing logical proofs. Although we like to claim that logic is the 'laws of thought', in reality, most conclusions most people arrive at are not found through logic.
Instead, people usually have intuitions that they then use some sort of 'reasoning' to justify. But the reasoning is usually NOT the reason they believe. it is the way they justify their intuitions. And their beliefs are based on those intuitions, not on logic or reasoning.
Interesting, i had a teacher who once told me people are not born critical thinkers (I'm undecided) but i like to think they just don't have the tools yet.
Would you agree or disagree just me being curious?
There is an old line that most people think that they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
Even those who have the tools will tend to apply them in support of their own biases. They may be more likely to reject certain *justifications*, but all that means is that they will use *other* justifications for what they intuit to be the case.
Now, this doesn't mean that logic and reason are useless. It just means that they are not as important as we would like to think when it comes to convincing someone they are wrong. Much better is to find internal contradictions in their system while showing that the contradictions don't arise from other intuitions.