November 18, 2011
OYAYA
A reason to approach the world with reason
BY STEVE DABROWSKI (Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry)
The first rule of deductive reasoning states that if you begin with a false premise, no matter if all the other premises that follow are true, the conclusion must necessarily be false. I like logic, and, as a blue-collar kid from the suburbs of Chicago, I regularly thank God for the odd path he used to educate me.
One of my great joys came from sitting in a class taught by Msgr. Robert Sokolowski at Catholic University. He and Pope John Paul II were the preeminent living Phenomenlogists at the time, and his class was life-changing for me. Phenomenology is a branch of Philosophy about which I do not purport to be an expert, and being candid, I fear I might get confused if I try too hard to explain it. In short, every thought we have is in correlation to an object. We can’t think of “nothing”; we always judge, remember, or imagine “something.” I doubt Msgr. Sokolowski would approve of this, but my very short definition of Phenomenology goes like this: We try to understand something by drawing distinctions between our different perspectives or angles as we contemplate an object or experience: How is “A” different from “B?”
Now, if I had the space in this column to write a philosophical treatise, I’d go on about knowledge and how we know what we know if we can really know what we know, you know? No? Hmmm. Philosophy isn’t really where I’m going with this anyway. Instead, I want to be more practical.
Ask any high school student if their school offers classes on philosophy. Ask if they’ve taken a class that helps them to build logical arguments and avoid falling prey to “red herrings” or “appeals to authority.” Sadly, most schools have drifted away from the most important class anyone can take —“Using Your Brain 101: How to Think Critically.”
We live in a time of great knowledge but little wisdom. People have all sorts of facts at their disposal, but very few schools teach young people how to sift through all that data and formulate a sound conclusion. We send youth out as “sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16), we fail to teach them how to reason, and then we’re surprised when they develop opinions that are framed by popular culture instead of sound reasoning.
Jesus told us he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). We learn what is true and good by reflecting on what we encounter and experience. As I said above, we can’t think of “nothing,” so every “something” we consider affects us on some level. The truth demands reflection and judgment, but if we fail to teach the ability to think critically, we’ve hamstrung people from the start. If we teach young people how to think, they can learn to ask precise questions; precise questions lead to premises; premises lead to conclusions. And, if the premises are true, and the argument sound, so too will be the conclusion. It’s logical.