September 1991
1. What human beings do: They
- a. Choose. They prefer one thing over another in order to fulfill their desires according to their understanding and ability.
- b. Understand. They taxonomize a mental universe to represent the “real” universe.
- c. Act. Using whatever skills and abilities they have, human beings do things. This is conversation with other beings.
- d. Enjoy. The universe causes in human beings sensations and emotions which we call experience. These are sorrow and joy, pleasure and pain, satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
These four things constitute the bulk of what human beings do.
But there is one more important activity. Human beings also:
- e. Argue. To argue is to present a case that:
- 1) One choice is better than another (ethics), or that
- 2) One taxonomizing is better than another (science, common sense, and metaphysics), or that
- 3) One skill development or application is better than another (strategy and tactics, “how to”), or that
- 4) One enjoyment is better than another (persuasion, advertising).
2. Thinking is done by human beings in all of the things which they do. But thinking focuses in argument.
3. Every argument has at least four elements:
- a. A conclusion. What it is you are trying to assert, to establish, to prove. (A choice.)
- b. A support structure. This is the evidence or basis for your thinking that the conclusion you foster is preferable to some other position. (A representation.)
- c. A rhetoric. This is the delivery vehicle in which the argument is communicated to others. (A doing.)
- d. An effect. This is what happens when your argument is communicated to some target. (An enjoyment.)
4. An example of an argument.
- a. Conclusion: You cannot make the world safe for human beings, but you can make human beings safe for the world.
- b. Support structure: Evil is endemic in the world; it cannot be eradicated. Therefore, the world cannot be transformed into a safe place for human beings.
Support structure: Human beings can be taught to defend themselves against the evils of the world. When they are taught and if they use what they are taught, they can defend themselves against the evils of this world, and therefore become safe for the world. - c. Rhetoric: (Not given here: this would be a paper, or a poem, or a play, or some other vehicle by which to communicate this thought structure.)
- d. Effect: (Can only be hypothesized: If the target person(s) accept the argument you might enjoy that.)
5. Factors which affect thinking:
- a. Desires: If persons want to think, they will. If they want to think better, they will learn how to do so. If their thinking is good rather than evil, they will do prosper in thinking.
- b. Knowledge: The greater conceptual development and the greater the knowledge of the person, the better they can think.
- c. Skills: The more things a person can do well, the greater their ability to think about doing well.
- d. Effort: Time and energy are essential to sustained production in thinking.
- e. Wiring: Some persons are genetically constituted to be able to think faster and better than others.
- f. Environment: Some environments are rich in stimulation to think, whereas others are not.