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| Linda's piano/vocal students - May 2017 |
In my college Logic classes I told my students that critical thinking helps us arrive at the truth or falsity of statements (claims, beliefs). We want to know if our beliefs are true.
I loved talking with students about logic and truth. Many of them had never heard such talk before, and seemed confused by it. They were especially boggled by the idea that, in logic, if a statement is true, it is true for everyone.
For example: Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This statement is true, which means: the described state of affairs obtains. If it obtains, it obtains for everyone. Thus, regarding statements, there is no "true for you, but false for me" discussion.
Logic is a tool that can help us evaluate and formulate what we can know. It is precisely this claim to knowledge that troubles students, since it seems arrogant. Dallas Willard (USC Prof. of Philosophy) understood this. He wrote:
"It is not irrelevant that contemporary institutions of higher education see themselves not as knowledge institutions, but as research institutions. To paraphrase G. K. Chesterton, when people no longer believe in truth, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in research." (Willard, Eternal Living: Reflections on Dallas Willard's Teaching on Faith and Formation, Kindle Locations 1273-1278)
