This post was originally published in 2014 · Jacob M Hansen

Here’s an obvious principle: actions in line with truth give us what we want.   For example, let’s say that you’re stranded in the desert. It is a proven truth that humans need to keep things like their water levels and body temperatures normal in order to live.  So if you want to survive, taking action in line with this truth (finding shade, drinking liberally, and traveling in the cooler hours of night) will give you the best chance of making it happen.  But if you act in such a way that is not consistent with this truth (running in the heat like a madman), you won’t get what you want (you’ll be dead). 

As I’m sure you can see, this principle applies to every aspect of our lives.  Again, actions in line with truth give us what we want. So now we come to the age old question: how do you find truth?  For we must have truth to act upon it. I don’t pretend to have a definitive answer to this question, but I do know that there is a key element of the process that is too often abused.  Namely, logic. 

In essence, logic is a system that allows us to remove contradictions.  It works by simply putting together two or more pieces of corresponding information, and wala!  Out comes a conclusion. And so long as the information is true and complete, the conclusion is also true. 

We naturally use logic all the time, but if you want to see it written out in the most clear but boring way possible, it looks like this: 

If I find shade, drink liberally, and travel in the cool of night, I will live,

If I run around I will die, 

I want to live.

Therefore, I should not run around.  Therefore I should find shade, etc..  

How does this apply to finding truth you ask?  Well pretty much all of the truths that we discover about life come from blundering around day to day, experimenting, until we find something that works.  And that is where logic comes in: when you find something that works, you have to compare it to other truths, examine what it must mean, define the truth, and then consider possible conclusions.  And you cannot accurately do this without the system we call logic. 

Logic looks at what we know, where we want to be, and then points us in the right direction. Without it, us humans would hardly be better than animals.  Without logic it would be impossible to make sense of the world, and we would never be able to improve ourselves or our conditions.  

Despite its usefulness however, there are at least two categories of logic abusers.  The first extreme are those who worship logic. The second extreme are those who belittle it.  

Logic Worshipers

I try to act as logically as I can, but despite what some of my friends may think, I don’t worship logic.  Worshiping logic involves thinking that logic is the source of all truth: if we cannot prove it logically, it is not true.  If we can prove logically, it is true. 

But this of course, is flawed thinking because our conclusions are only as good as the thoughts and information we have to produce them.  Simply, human logic is not perfect because we are not perfect. A being who can’t figure out where he left his keys cannot be expected to figure out the rest of the truths about his reality all on his own.  Even something we can prove logically could be totally false (just look up how to prove Winston Churchill is a carrot).  

But it’s not just that some logic is false.  There are also some true things in life that we just haven’t found the logical proof for.  Its like history: if you went back to ancient Greece and told people that the sun was the center of the solar system, they would pull up logic based on their observations and “prove” you wrong.  When in reality, you can see something they can’t, and so you understand truth that to them seems illogical. Not all logic is true, but all truth is logical; you just may not be able to see it.

Without an all encompassing divine perspective (which none of us have) we will never be able to use logic alone to find all truth.  What we can do however, is to act in the most logical ways we can. Ways that stay within the limits of logic and make full use of one of our greatest tools in life.  

Logic Belittlers

“I’m an just an emotional person who does whatever makes me happy, and logic shouldn’t confine me”, is a statement that gives me a serious headache.  People who belittle logic don’t always mean to, but in essence they who look down at logic as less important and reject the conscious version of it. While this view still uses subconscious logic (I want a snack, the snack are in the fridge, therefore I’m going to open the fridge), it still puts you in a place where you find less truth and make more mistakes. 

One reason people run from logic, is that it points out their errors.  People are both emotionally insecure, and lazy. We don’t like it when things break our egotistical bubble, shove us out of our comfort zone, or make us do hard things.  So when there is a choice between standing up to our own bad decisions and rejecting an idea, what do you think people are going to choose?  

But there is another side to this coin.  Sometimes people run from logic that–while they don’t immediately understand why–leads to a conclusion that is false.  As I discussed in the last section, we can use our limited perspective to logically prove false things true. So just because someone hands you a proof, doesn’t mean what they say is true.  Just be careful not to lump all new logic into the ‘flawed’ category.  

Another reason people run from logic is that they see an incomplete picture of it.  They think of logic as something that only leads to cold, boring facts and no adventure, emotion, or real enjoyment of life.  But on the contrary, logic can give you all of these things. For instance, it is not always the logical thing to keep your boring desk job so that you can securely pay the bills.  Given that you value happiness, novelty, and meaning, plus the fact that people do their best when they love what they do, it might actually be more logical for you to take the plunge and start teaching sky-diving for a living.  Logic simply shows you the best way to get what you desire.

Both of these two ways of abusing logic are, well, illogical, and blind us in the search of, and use of truth.  Logic is simply a system; one that can exponentially enrich our lives. We need to both make use of it, and also recognize where its limits lie.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t see this happening a lot in our society: some people polarize to logic worship, others are constantly switching between worship and belittlement depending on what will make them look right, and far more are simply throwing logic (and often truth along with it) out the window.  I don’t fully understand why, but it simply isn’t cool to act logically. Needless to say, it shouldn’t be this way.

By this time your brain is probably convinced that you need to be more logical.  Does that mean you will be? Absolutely not. So you can expect future posts on emotion and how logic and emotion interplay.