How to think logically in everyday life: 8 tips

Several key guidelines and ideas for thinking through logic in a more natural way.

The ability to think logically is not an innate mental ability.. It requires years of practice, as well as growing up in a cultural context where there is a level of development that allows it. That is why, until several thousand years ago, practically no one was able to perceive reality from a logical perspective.

However, although mastering the habit of thinking logically requires a certain amount of effort and learning, it is essential for living in today's societies, both personally and professionally. Fundamentally, it is something that allows us to make the most of our intelligence and ability to think in abstract terms, with all the applications that this has when it comes to adapting to an environment as changing as that of human societies.

• Related article, "Are we rational or emotional beings?"

Tips for learning to think more logically

Follow this series of tips to get used to thinking logically in most situations. That said, you will have to adapt these key ideas to the characteristics of your life..

1. Learn to distinguish ideas

It is important to make sure that we do not confuse conceptsIt is important to make sure that we do not confuse concepts, causing the same word to actually have two vague meanings instead of just one that is clear and in line with its definition. For example, it is not the same to refer to "the people" when talking about the inhabitants of a country as when talking about a State.

So, get into the habit of stopping to analyze if the most frequent terms you think of are consistent and if you do not mix concepts.

2. Order your thoughts

Which aspects are the most important to you in relation to an issue? Is it reasonable that these are your priorities when analyzing a fact or phenomenon? Do you unjustifiably stick to a very specific element of a much more complex reality? Ordering your thoughts and giving them a certain hierarchy helps you think logically. helps to think logically.

3. Analyze your leaps of faith

The information you have about the reality around you is limited, and so, to some extent, you will always have to assume things about facts, you will always have to make assumptions about facts you do not know.. However... are those leaps of faith justified? Do your conclusions really follow from the premises you start from? Or are you simplifying a problem simply to reach a conclusion that seems the most comfortable to you?

4. Avoid argumentative fallacies

Remember that fallacies are not erroneous beliefs, but flawed reasoning. It is impossible for us to know if all our beliefs are correct or not, but we can analyze if there are consistency flaws in our way of reasoning and arguing.

Therefore, familiarize yourself with fallacies and check, on a day-to-day basis, if you fall into them.. Most likely you will do it several times, but these occasions should help you to learn and correct your mistakes.

5. Meet new people

The possibility of interacting with new people, especially if they are people who think in a different way than we do, is a great help when it comes to learning.is a great help when it comes to getting used to thinking logically. Why? Because finding ourselves in situations that challenge our intelligence and lead us to have to argue our beliefs.

Thus, exposing ourselves to the clash of different and incompatible ideas leads us to review our convictions and to see if there are cracks in our belief systems, which

6. Detects patterns of simplification

Do you tend to attribute to individuals facts that are more complex and have a social root (e.g., poverty)? Do you believe that abstract ideas can be treated as physical objects (e.g., talking about the law of attraction)? These are common mistakes that lead you to think in a way that is far from logic and give you a caricatured picture of reality.

7. Adopt a detached perspective

Don't let your desires and feelings get the better of you when it comes to thinking coldly about important things.. Failure to do so usually ends up in coming to conclusions according to how you feel, or those that best fit your desires. This is a way of being dishonest with oneself and does no good to our chances of having a fuller understanding of what is really going on.

8. Beware of false referents

Sometimes, we fallaciously believe that the most realistic and logical option is the one that we interpret as the most moderate between two opposite options. However, this need not be the case. For example, it is possible that our benchmarks of what "the extremes" are may be anything.

Our position on racism, for example, may be a middle ground between those who want to exterminate entire races and those who ignore the existence of those differences, if we follow that logic. Therefore, before positioning ourselves, we must ask ourselves whether these extremes are representations of valid options in the first place.