Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
This week, I am going to be doing a short mini-series on the 3 laws of logic and we’ll be covering Part 1 today but before we dive into that, I had to share this email I just received from a listener who just joined the Crazy Thinkers Membership! Michelle actually sent me a picture of my Logical Fallacies E-book all printed out and put in a binder like we homeschool mamas like to do and said “Our homeschool just got a super boost! Love this!” Of course I was all excited b/c I think she’s the first person who’s printed it all off and has it ready to go. She replies, “ I have 3 boys ages 14, 12, 10. And....there are lots of brotherly arguments in our house, but now that we're learning the fallacies their arguments have gone to a new, sophisticated level. "That's the blame shifting fallacy!!" "You're appealing to authority!!!" They are absorbing it well- LOL
Ha! That is so awesome! I have to laugh about the new level of arguing…get ready parents, these middle & high school years are the perfect years to teach them good thinking b/c they pick it up so fast and they take great joy in using this new skill on you, on their siblings and on everyone around them!
Guys, the doors are open right now to the Crazy Thinkers Membership, which is a monthly membership designed to help you & your teens practice what they’re learning here in the podcast about good thinking & recognizing fallacies. Each month, you’ll get an article or a news headline or a meme or an ad…something taken from real life that you can look at with your teens to challenge you AND them to think well about it. And don’t worry, I’ll be including a list of questions to help you have a good conversation and get all of you thinking. Each month, we’ll also do a live training where I’ll be teaching different aspects of good thinking. Yes, it’ll be new content that I won’t be teaching here on the podcast, so the Membership is the only place you can get it. Also, we’ll have fun monthly challenges as another way to practice using the fallacies. Because this is a founding member's launch, the price is the lowest it’ll ever be - just $9/month. And you’ll get my Logical Fallacies E-book for free and a special pack of stickers that I can’t wait to get out to you. We are excited to be launching this Membership and are so excited for the Crazy Thinkers who have already joined b/c they’re going to be giving us invaluable feedback as we set this up to really make it a valuable and awesome resource for you & your family.
Oh, short funny story…when my daughter Lena and I were filming the little video for the checkout page, I think we had to re-record about 20 times to get this minute and a half video b/c rather than calling it the Crazy thinkers Membership, she kept calling it the Crazy Members Thinkership! It was so funny, and honestly, the more I think about it, I actually kind of love the word Thinkership, so maybe that’s what we should call it! Ha! Either way, the Founding Members offer closes tomorrow and the price will go up next time we open the doors to the Thinkership, so if you want to take advantage of the price and the freebies, definitely go check it out today and practice the skills of Crazy Good Thinking!
Ok! Let’s dive into the miniseries on the 3 Laws of Logic. First, a little background on these 3 laws and where they came from…No, this isn’t something I made up, they’ve actually been around for thousands of years. Aristotle, who lived over 300 years before Jesus was born, is credited with being the first person to systematically investigate the patterns and processes of reason. He discovered (some would say invented) formal logic. Now, what is formal logic? And what is the difference between formal logic & informal logic? Great question! This could be a fairly technical, complicated answer, but I’m going to keep it super simple and say formal logic is the study of arguments where they break down how the arguments are structured & formed, it analyzes the truth values of statements and how they interact with each other. I’ve even heard formal logic called the mathematical study of logic itself. Now, on the other hand, Informal logic is basically the way we use reasoning & thinking in everyday arguments and conversation. Everything we’ve done on this podcast so far, all the logical fallacies, have been informal logic. These 3 Laws of Logic are the first time I’ve really talked about much formal logic, and we’re going to keep it really simple and I promise you’ll get it!
Ok, so the first Law of Logic we’re going to cover is called the Law of Identity. The Law of Identity states that something is what it is and not something else. In other words, a thing is identical to itself. This principle is sometimes referred to as the "A is A" principle, meaning that an object is identical to itself.
Think of it this way: each thing that exists has specific categories that it belongs to, like is it a plant, an animal, a food, a mineral. Each thing that exists also has specific characteristics…my dog Ted has 4 legs, a long tail, a pink tongue and curly hair. For something to exist, it has to have certain categories and characteristics.
Let me give you an example: An apple is an apple and not an orange. An apple is a specific type of fruit, with a specific set of characteristics, such as its shape, color, and taste. It cannot be something else, like an orange, which also has its own specific set of characteristics.
Here’s another example: A car is a car and not a house. A car is a specific type of vehicle, with its own set of characteristics, such as the ability to move, transport people and goods, has an engine and runs on gasoline. A house, on the other hand, is a specific type of structure, with its own set of characteristics, such as a roof, walls, different rooms and a place to live.
The Law of identity is saying that a car is a car, and a house is a house. An apple is an apple and an orange is an orange.
Ok, at this point, you’re probably thinking…well duh! This is the most obvious thing in the whole world, why are we even spending any time on this?
Now, before I get into this example/explanation, I want to be sure to let you know that this last part is a correction. I’ve edited this episode. When I first published this episode, I had a part in it that was wrong, and a listener sent me a message to correct me. I looked it up and they were right, what I had shared was incorrect, so I want to be sure to correct that and remove the incorrect information from this episode. And this is so good b/c here’s the deal, we are all human and we will all make mistakes. If you think just b/c I host a podcast that I’ll always be right & be perfect, you’re mistaken! And if you think YOU will always be right and perfect, you’re also mistaken. I try, but I may not always get it right! The whole goal is to be willing to seek truth and if you remember from episode , it’s not really a good conversation if you’re not willing to be persuaded! I’m working on a whole episode on this topic, so be watching for it soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to be sure to re-publish this episode, this time without the incorrect fact.
I’ll tell you why the law of identity matters…and there are several different ways this law is being violated in our society today…I’ll bet you can think of several yourself, but let me pick just one. Do you remember back earlier in the podcast I told you about the client my massage therapist had who claimed she was a unicorn? Well, this is just a small example of a growing group of people who call themselves “furries” and they “identify” as animals, either a cat or a dog or in this case a unicorn. Now, it’s one thing to play pretend when you’re a kid - absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if someone gets to the point where they’re really thinking they’re a cat, hopefully someone in their life will come alongside and tell them the truth that, “No, people are people; cats are cats. People can’t be cats.” So often today, culture today doesn’t value logic, it values feelings. And if someone FEELS like they’re a cat, then it must be true, right. Well, no, it’s not. And I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to go along with bad thinking, even if it goes against someone’s feelings. Feelings come & go. They change, but truth is truth and the laws of logic help us keep a firm grip on reality.
So, the question to ask yourself to correspond with the Law of Logic is this: “What is it really?” *repeat*
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
