Sunday, January 10, 2010

B

English scholar and theologian Benjamin Jowett once said, "Logic is neither a science or an art, but a dodge". According to my dictionary, the word dodge is 1. verb: to elude or evade by a sudden shift of position or by strategy, 2: to use evasive methods. Therefore, to sum up Mr. Jowett's theory, to use logic is to take the easy way out to avoid some form of future consequences. However, using logic is not always the easy way out.
The good aspect of the statement is that looking at logic this way, more natural than something you can learn, gives humans a lot of credit. We like coming to conclusions as fast as possible and avoiding conflicts, and using inborn defense systems is the easiest way to get things done and avoid conflict. There is no science or art to making these decisions. Say you are walking along a road and you come to a cross road. The path to the left has a rainbow, birds singing, and little animals playing with each other. The path to the left is very dark, and there is almost no sign of life. Naturally, people will want to go to the one to the left with the playful animals and sunshine because it is less threatening. There is no science or art to knowing that. It is just common sense, a trait that although not all humans use all the time, they most certainly have. The left path is a dodge of the dangers ahead. The easy way out.
However, you aren't always trying to dodge something when you use logic. Sometimes using logic puts you in a difficult situation, because some people choose not to take the easy way out. While most people would choose the path to the left, there is no reason to say that some people would choose the path to the right because if they are looking to be more adventurous then that is the more logical choice. They aren't dodging danger, they are running straight through it, and people do this in everyday life situations as well.
Therefore, in my opinion, although it is a good attempt at trying to explain logic, it has too many flaws for me to agree.

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