Inference and Persuasion
Armour's most recent book, Inference and Persuasion: An Introduction to Logic and Critical Reasoning (2005), was co-authored by Richard Feist. It is written so as to be accessible to all audiences and is concerned with the problems associated with logic, offering suggestions rather than solutions, for, as Armour states, nothing is certain. This book dicusses meaning-assignment, rule-making, beliefs, and the correlation between belief and action. It pays special attention to how these are misunderstood, corrupted and blocked so that we are robbed of our freedom. The authors argue that reason and experience are both important to logic, and that logic is important because it allows for understanding and survival.
Inference is described as the beliefs and judgments that create rules. Inference and rule are tools that we use for freedom. We think for ourselves and draw our own conclusions; knowledge permits freedom to act. Yet the way inferences are drawn is subject to the influence of logicians, such as Aristotle, and their language. Aristotle's focus on class inclusion and exclusion highlights the limits of the language of logic. This idea of classification is problematic, as it ignores things not included in a class and the fact that the meaning of classes is not clear. "Trying to lay out axioms or rules in advance... will always lead to limitations" because "imposing systems on our thinking seems to bring limits into play".
Examining John Dewey's logic (Chapter Four), the notion that reason and experience are interconnected is evident. Logic is concerned with the 'human world', which is not the 'world in itself'. Thinking has a purpose; it is a problem solving tool, an attempt to make experience coherent.
The authors go through previous theories and views on logic and add interesting and thought-provoking ideas. They note the tensions between experience and logic, the biases associated with reasoning, and the importance of context. In "Logic and Morality" it is argued that our biases inform how we form our understanding of facts. How we reason about what to do is based on practicality, which is based on our values. In "Logic and Politics" we see the notion of classes, as assembled from members, as individualist, with community interests ignored. The authors suggest we must understand the world through relationships, since individuals only exist in context, such as social contexts. Logic has the tendency to either ignore social realities or create individualist societies.
Concluding their text with the limits set by the rules of logic, they state that the ultimate reason for caution in using logic is that "One should not let one's choice of logic impose restrictions on one's freedom — provided of course that one can see rational alternatives. Where that line is drawn readers must decide for themselves"
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