How we reason - Johnson-Laird, P. N., (Philip Nicholas) (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
1 Introduction; Part I: The World in Our Conscious Minds; 2 Icons and Images; 3 Models of Possibilities: From Conjuring Tricks to Disasters; Part II: The World in Our Unconscious Minds; 4 Mental Architecture and the Unconscious; 5 Intuitions and Unconscious Reasoning; 6 Emotions as Inferences; 7 Reasoning in Psychological Illnesses; Part III: How We Make Deductions; 8 Only Connections; 9 I'm my own Grandpa: Reasoning About Identities and Other Relations; 10 Syllogisms and Reasoning about Properties; 11 Isn't Everyone an Optimist? The Case of Complex Reasoning
Part IV: How We Make Inductions12 Modulation: A Step Towards Induction; 13 Knowledge and Inductions; 14 Sherlock Holmes's Method: Abduction; 15 The Balance of Probabilities; Part V: What Makes us Rational; 16 Counterexamples; 17 Truths, Lies, and the Higher Reasoning; Part VI: How We Develop Our Ability to Reason; 18 On Development; 19 Strategies and Cultures; 20 How We can Improve our Reasoning; Part VII: Knowledge, Beliefs, and Problems; 21 The Puzzles of If; 22 Causes and Obligations; 23 Beliefs, Heresies, and Changes in Mind; 24 How we Solve Problems
Part VIII: Expert Reasoning in Technology, Logic, and Science25 Flying Bicycles: How the Wright Brothers Invented the Airplane; 26 Unwrapping an Enigma; 27 On the Mode of the Communication of Cholera; 28 How we Reason; Glossary; A; B; C; D; E; F; H; I; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Notes on the Chapters; Acknowledgements; References; Name Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z; Subject Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W.
Good reasoning can lead to success; bad reasoning can lead to catastrophe. Yet, it's not obvious how we reason, and why we make mistakes - so much of our mental life goes on outside our awareness. In recent years huge strides have been made into developing a scientific understanding of reasoning. This new book by one of the pioneers of the field, Philip Johnson-Laird, looks at the mental processes that underlie our reasoning. It provides the most accessible account yet of thescience of reasoning. We can all reason from our childhood onwards - but how? 'How we reason' outlines a bold approach to