Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
I wanted to start off today with an email from a listener that I recently received, this is from Susie: “Just wanted to express my appreciation for your podcast. I discovered it this year - thanks to Schoolhouse Rocked - and my 15-year-old daughter Jessie and I are 40 episodes in and not slowing down! It is the first thing she'll request when given options for car listening. :) It is really well done and super-helpful (and good prep for "The Fallacy Detective," which has been on my shelf for a while now...) thanks much, Susie”
Susie, thanks a millio for taking the time to send me a message…
Today is the final day to become a Founding Member of Crazy Thinkers..the new membership my daughter and I are launching! This Thinkership, as we’re calling it, is a way to practice the skills of good thinking you’re learning here on this podcast. If you’re looking for ways to practice recognizing Logical Fallacies in everyday media and you want to help your student develop some seriously good media discernment, this is for you! For Founding Members, it’s only $9/month
Just go to www.filteritthroughabraincell.com and you’ll see the link to Crazy Thinkers to get all the info, including some freebies just for Founding Members!
Ok, so we’re talking about the 3 Laws of Logic, and this episode is on the second Law of Logic, called the Law of Non-Contradiction. The Law of Non-Contradiction says that a statement cannot be both true and not true at the same time. The statement can be either true or false, but it cannot be both true and false at the same time. If a statement is true, it cannot also be false. This may seem obvious, but it is a crucial concept to understand in order to reason and think critically.
For example, if I’m holding a red ball, we can’t say that the ball is red and also the ball is not red. If we say that a ball is red, we are making a statement about its color. But if we then say that the same ball is not red, we are contradicting ourselves. The ball cannot both be red and not red at the same time.
If an animal is a dog, that same animal cannot be not a dog.
A person cannot be both alive and dead at the same time.
A square cannot have both 4 sides and 5 sides.
A man cannot be a woman.
Here’s why this law of logic matters to us today…
The Law of Non-Contradiction is just one of the problems behind the statement, “That may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” Current culture is having a heyday with Relativism, where people are confusing personal belief for truth. They’re saying it may be true for you that God exists, but it’s not true for me. They can’t both be true. He either exists or He doesn’t. Or there are people claiming that their truth is that even though they’re a girl, they FEEL like they’re a boy. These things cannot BOTH be true. And claiming a personal feeling or a belief to be truth doesn’t make it true! Too many people would rather live in contradiction…live in a lie… than admit they’re wrong.
Question to ask yourself: “Can both of those things really be true?” *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?”
