A theme I enjoyed from Bertrand Russell’s Skeptical Essays was his general distaste for thinking too much about simple concepts. He likened this to a scientist running crazy experiments – a logician must learn to recognize the limits of logical extensions in order to stop thinking when a train of thought has run past its useful terminus.
Russell uses the concept of rationality to demonstrate how logic is best applied in the simplest possible manner. He defines rationality in a modern community as not harming others so long as such actions do not harm the self. He adds that individuals apply rationality when they protect long-term interests from the temptations of short-term considerations. Many of today’s various definitions of ‘rational’ could benefit from having a second look at Russell’s simple and universal explanations of the term.
I also liked the recommendations for how a student might learn to simplify in the face of complex, contradicting, or voluminous information. One suggestion recommends presenting the various schools of thought on problems of practical importance and teaching students how to seek, identify, and follow the thread of arguments that come from different points of view. Another thought points out that newspapers with opposing ideologies are a great way to learn this skill – simply present students with multiple articles about a particular event and ask them to summarize what actually happened.
