FABIO PAGLIERI

The Reason Cure

Thought Training Exercises

We are often led to believe that human reason is limited: it is vulnerable to errors and fallacies, often draws erroneous conclusions, offers weak arguments, and falls prey to temptation and false promises. In short, reason is a feeble guide for shaping our individual and social behaviour. This awareness has led to repeated calls for greater education efforts in support of critical thinking and logical skills, especially in schooling environments. This book adopts a contrarian view and states that our minds are not quite as frail as widespread opinion suggests. Even when human reason falters, the causes of such failures are quite different from those that we usually assume. This book offers a novel perspective, providing readers with practical tools and useful exercises for training the mind, refining their reasoning skills, and identifying insidious thought traps. Even when it is sound, we must always take care of our good sense.

Fabio Paglieri is a researcher at the Italian National Research Council’s Institute for Cognitive Science and Technologies in Rome.

Premessa

I. I sintomi del male

1. Probabili errori

2. Il paraocchi della conferma

3. Prigionieri degli stereotipi

4. Non sapere di sapere

II. Il contesto terapeutico

1. Democrazia senza ragione

2. Insegnare a ragionare

III. La diagnosi tradizionale

1. La fallacia delle fallacie

2. A cosa serve ragionare?

IV. Cure inefficaci

1. Misurare l'efficacia dell'educazione al ragionamento critico

2. Ragionare sui manuali: immersioni speranzose, esempi fuorvianti e ossessioni inferenziali

V. Una diagnosi alternativa

1. La forbice di Simon

2. La natura dei nostri errori: non tutta la cognizione è ragionamento

VI. La nuova cura

1. Studiare il terreno

2. Ragionare in compagnia

3. Conoscere i propri bias interpretativi

4. Allenare l'attenzione

5. Verificare le risposte

6. Non è mai troppo presto per iniziare a ragionare

7. E quindi?

Bibliografia

Indice dei nomi