Thinking is hard

Thinking is hard. It is easy to make claims, but we must substantiate these claims, propose arguments that will be convincing because of their logical structure as well as the veracity of their premises. Making any random claim is very easy. Proving that the claim is true, or at least, convincing yourself, and others, than the claim is true, is what really matters. But it is difficult to avoid errors in the process. Language is tricky and can be interpreted in many ways. People disagree on what words mean. Logic is hard, and subtle errors can rear their ugly head. Under which conditions are we saying something that is really on solid ground? Could there be a method to help us, to steer clear of error? In this post, we look at the method of charitable reconstruction, a tool to analyze arguments critically.

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