Essay on The Relevance of Logic in Our Everyday Lives

The challenge when working with others to make a decision is that we all have our own methods of coming to a conclusion. The rational decision-making model is comprehensive in the fact that it requires the decision maker to define the problem, identify criteria for making the decision, weight the criteria, develop alternatives, evaluate alternatives and finally select the best alternative (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A. 2009). The challenge with utilizing this method is the fact that most of the time in real world situations, facts are either limited or missed, time compression causes an oversight on all potential alternatives and people tend to choose the easier route to make decisions (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., 2009). Intuition is a powerful tool, however it can also lead to quick and potentially bad decisions (Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., 2009). I can recall a conversation with a leader about an employee that made an error administering a medication. The manager had not spoken with the employee or

The ability for one to make rational decisions is vital, and this is especially true for decisions that can have enormous consequences. The process for making rational decisions is tedious, it requires one to have the opportunity to deeply process, evaluate, and re-evaluate available options. This suggests that rational decisions must be made in the absence of external parties because external influences are capable of preventing individuals from processing information for themselves. Otherwise, this would likely result in the individual coming to rash conclusions that cater to the external parties. Unfortunately, under most circumstances, it is a challenge to make rational decisions, because as social animals, we constantly expose

The decision making process includes cognitive processes that eventually lead to a choice in action while taking into consideration the alternative possibilities (Allen, Dorozenko, & Roberts, 2016). Not all choices have to lead to an action. The values and preferences of the person making the choice also comes into play when making the final decision. Problem-solving to obtain a certain goal or satisfactory by a solution is the main reason people go through the decision making process (Stefaniak, & Tracey, 2014). This process has many factors that end with one final result or solution. The decisions made can be rational or irrational and can be determined by explicit or tacit knowledge (Qingyao, Dongyu, & Weihua, 2016). Since the decision making process can be very difficult at time, psychologists have viewed the process in different perspectives to get a better understanding (Rossi, Picchi, Di Stefano, Marongiu, & Scarsini, 2015). The different perspectives include; psychological, cognitive, and normative or communicative rationality.

Jennifer S. Lerner, author of Emotion and Decision Making, talks about how our emotions can actively affect our actions. In Lerner’s book, it states, “We start with emotions arising from the judgement or a choice at hand, a type of emotion that strongly and routinely shapes decision making.” Our emotions cause us to make certain decisions in our everyday lives. For example a person who is feeling nervous and anxious about a specific outcome of a risky situation may choose a more safe route. A person who admires an organization may donate money. In both cases, our the way we feel about something or someone determines how we address a situation and how we treat someone or something. In some way our emotions act as our conscience in each situation we go through that requires us to choose an outcome .

Each point essentially answers the "how" of the point proceeding it. Employing this technique allows the reader to see the reasoning behind the author's point of view. The author proves to the reader their point has basing in reality. Logical reasoning is an effective argumentative tool because the reader can see the thought process that led to the author's conclusion, enabling the points to be believable. Lorber gives her logical reasoning credibility with quotes from other published works that consult the essay's

He uses logic to prove that reasons are bull shit when making a decision because even though each decision takes you through a different route they still lead you to the same place. Bernard Roth also uses logic to prove that you don’t have to listen to your elders or those who have a higher degree or education than you because maybe you might actually when a thousand dollars doing a survey or whatever even when your parents or whoever told you it would be a bad idea. He uses these examples and others to prove that “we’re better off without reasons” Bernard Roth. The majority of reasons are bull shit but are some reasons legitimate.

Rushworth Kidder suggests that decision-making is driven by our core values, morals and integrity, and that some decisions fall into one of two categories: Moral Temptations and Ethical Dilemmas.

Rationale gives substantial thinking and assurance in judgment, however, it is subordinate to common sense needs. The principal and most important piece of logic concerns the application of principle. Epictectus argues that the ills that human beings experience are as a result of mistaken beliefs of what is surely worthy. According to him, as human beings, We have put our trust in the wrong things, or possibly put it in the wrong way.

For example, in the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a young man and his son dispute about whether to kill a dog in a post-apocalyptic world when the boy asks “we’re not going to kill it, are we Papa?” (McCarthy 82). This scene displays the conflict between choosing the more logical approach, which would be to kill the dog for food, or to let the dog roam free and spare his life, which would be the more ethical response. In this example, the young boy is the one that asks to spare the dog's life while the man views the dog as a reliable food source. This can also further the theory that as the older we get, the more logical and less compassionate we tend to be. The young boy in this novel does not want to kill the dog because he sees this as inhumane, while as we grow older our maturity and wisdom is more reasonable, like the man’s idea to kill the dog. Personally, in this situation, I would have followed my emotions and spare the dog’s

it’s a formal deduction system in which formulae representing propositions can be formed by combining atomic propositions using logical connectives.

on the ability of the thinker to be able to successfully think logically. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, logic is defined as "the science of reasoning, proof, thinking, or inference."

While the participants of this study may have higher NFC as university students, their likelihood of wanting to engage in effortful thinking does not reflect a high cognition in dilemmas. In addition, having the participants to rate their response does not engage cognitive thinking or moral emotions as much as being forced with a yes-no option in a situation. One would feel urgency to make an instantaneous decision, rather than to take time and weigh their affective or rational judgement. According to Haidt’s Social Intuition Model(2001), moral emotion fuels moral judgement, giving moral responses while reasoning is a post-hoc process to provide rational support to responses. Reasoning process may not be activated until after utilitarian response is made which is slower and requires effort; responses are then made by

Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher considered to be the “central figure of modern philosophy” once said “All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason” (plato.stanford.edu). Reason is defined as “the power of the mind to think, understand and form judgments logically” (theoryofknowledge.net). There are two forms of reasoning, namely deductive and inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is to form a specific conclusion from a set of general premises. Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, is the formation of a general conclusion from a set of specific premises (sociology.about.com). In both, although the conclusion may or may not be true, the set of

From the reading, I understand that people think and act differently when faced with ethical issues. For one to make a rational decision, an extensive process of judgment is required (Bandura, Caprara, & Zsolnai, 2000). For an individual to be responsible, he or she should put into consideration the magnitude of the consequences of the actions, social

The term “Logic” hails from the ancient Greek word logike and is a discipline which utilizes and studies valid reasoning. It is heavily relied upon in a number of subjects such as mathematics, philosophy and computer science, its roots being traced to ancient civilizations including Greece, India, China and Persia.