tenerife
Last Friday afternoon, during our trip back to Chapel Hill, Diane and I “checked out” a stack of books and DVDs from my mom’s generous library (no, it really is a library). We checked out a ton of things on critical thinking and the DVDs from the apologetics conference last fall. Among the books was a little gem called The Fallacy Detective, which is an excellent practical introduction to the logical fallacies that run rampant through every social sphere. Very down-to-earth, and the exercises at the end of each chapter allow us to relate the abstract concepts to our everyday conversations. This is key–logical fallacies come in so many guises and forms. Our minds need to be flexible in order to cut through the emotionalism and figure out what the argument really is or whether the question is being addressed. It takes a good deal of mental training to be able to do (I am far from proficient) and it is a humbling experience too, since reassessment of one’s own arguments and positions is inevitable with any study of critical thinking. One thing I know: some form of critical thinking/practical logic will be required reading for my kids. This is a big part of the wisdom and understanding we are commanded to acquire throughout Proverbs, and a fluency in the subject is more and more indispensable nowadays.