That just doesn’t sound right. Try Logic.

On April 12, 2022 by admin

Do you ever hear something and think it does not make sense or sound right? There are countless posts, memes and gifs that leave out a key thought. They switch the definition to make it sound worse or make personal attacks rather than address the key argument. The vast majority of the population are not philosophy professors steeped in logic. But logic is the name and logical abuse is the media game.

Part of the deliberate dumbing down of America was to remove logic instruction from the classroom in the early part of the 20^th century. It was part of the Trivium – grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The grammar in this lineup is not the same variety you had in school. Logic is a fundamental necessity of thought and was summarily dumped. Rhetoric was simply the application of grammar and logic to properly persuade, not the negative, empty propaganda exhibited in the majority of mass media. Learn logic and propaganda is much easier to spot.

The first step you can take to sharpen your mind is to get familiar with the basic tricks of informal fallacies. Then survey formal logic and then true and false statements are readily recognizable. Yes, it takes some effort. How much time are you willing to spend at the gym or on some other hobby? Why not spend an equal amount of time sharpening your mind to recognize true statements and errors, and be able to pinpoint and respond to them, as opposed to letting everyone else do it for you?

How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.
Adolf Hitler

These are a few free resources to get you started. I personally surveyed Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s course and it is fantastic. (They didn’t pay me a dime to say that – unfortunately.) He is part of the Ayn Rand Institute (Ayn Rand of the Atlas Shrugged series). Make sure to print the course materials for use.