Guide to Critical Thinking

1.2 Three Misconceptions About Logic
If logic is so important to critical thinking, we must of course examine what logic is. This task 
is not as easy as it sounds, and before we tackle it we must first dismantle some common 
misconceptions about the subject.
Logic Is for Robots
The first misconception is that it is not normal for humans to display a command of logic. (In 
fact, some suggest that humans created, rather than discovered, these patterns of thought; 
see A Closer Look: Logic: A Human Invention?) Think of how popular culture and media often 
depict characters endowed with logical reasoning. In American slang they are the eggheads, 
the geeks, the nerds, the ones who can use their minds but have trouble relating to other 
people. Such people often lack compassion or social charisma, or they are emotionally unex-
pressive. They are only logical and lack the blend of attributes that people actually have.
Consider the logically endowed characters on the Star Trek series. Vulcans, for example, are 
beings who suppress all emotions in favor of logic because they believe that emotions are 
dangerous. What appear to be heartless decisions by the Vulcans no doubt make logic seem 
quite unsavory to some viewers. The android Data—from The Next Generation series in the 
Star Trek franchise—is another example. Data’s positronic brain is devoid of any emotional 
capacity and thus processes all information exclusively by means of a logical calculus. Logic is 
thus presented as a source of alienation, as Data yearns for the affective depth that his human 
colleagues experience, such as humor and love.
Such presentations of logic as the polar opposite of emotion are false dichotomies because all 
human beings are naturally endowed with both logical and emotional faculties—not just one 
or the other. In other words, we have a broader range of abilities than that for which we give 
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Section 1.2 
Three Misconceptions About Logic
ourselves credit. So if you think that you are mostly emotional, then you simply have yet to 
discover your logical side.
Nonetheless, some believe emotions are the fundamental mark of human beings. It is quite 
likely that emotion has played a significant role in our survival as a species. Neuroscientists, 
for example, have discovered that our emotions have a faster pathway to the action centers 
of the brain than the methodical decision-making approach of our logical faculties (LeDoux, 
1986, 1992). It pays, for example, to give no thought to running if we fear we are being hunted 
by a predator.
In most human civilizations today, however, dodging predators is not a main necessity. In fact, 
methodical reasoning is more advantageous in most of today’s situations. Thinking things 
through logically assists learning at all levels, produces better results in the job market (in 
seeking jobs, obtaining promotions, and procuring raises), and helps us make better choices. 
As noted in the previous section, we are more likely to be satisfied and experience fewer 
regrets if we reason carefully about our most critical choices in life. Indeed, logical reasoning 
can prove to be a better strategy for attaining the individual quest for personal fulfillment 
than any available alternative such as random choice, emotional impulse, waiting and seeing, 
and so on.