{"id":4517,"date":"2021-09-28T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?page_id=4517"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:22:16","slug":"how-to-think","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?page_id=4517","title":{"rendered":"How to Think"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">(Part of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?page_id=4266\">Art of Learning<\/a>&nbsp;series.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to learn anything at all you have to <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=1941\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1941\">make up your mind<\/a> about what you think is true. You have to get your mind around it. <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=1101\">You can\u2019t know something if you don\u2019t believe it, and you shouldn\u2019t believe it if you don\u2019t understand it.<\/a> Our ability to reason therefore plays an essential role in the learning process. In this talk, I offer some basic strategies to help you get the most our of your thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position: relative; width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%\">\n\t<iframe src=\"https:\/\/cbs.cloud.panopto.eu\/Panopto\/Pages\/Embed.aspx?id=0d1d8a7c-ad3a-44c5-8f9b-b38c00fd42bd&#038;autoplay=false&#038;offerviewer=true&#038;showtitle=true&#038;showbrand=true&#038;captions=false&#038;interactivity=all\" style=\"border: 1px solid #464646; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; box-sizing: border-box;\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay\" aria-label=\"Integreret videoafspiller i Panopto\" aria-description=\"How to Think\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Video from November 5, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To believe something is to <em>think<\/em> it is true.<\/strong>  The &#8220;something&#8221; and the &#8220;it&#8221; are what I called a <em>proposition<\/em> in this talk. A proposition can be meaningful (you can understand it) even if it isn&#8217;t true. &#8220;It is raining,&#8221; for example, is a proposition that isn&#8217;t always true. (&#8220;Sometimes it is raining, sometimes not,&#8221; as <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=3312\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3312\">Quine put it<\/a>.) What you believe is neither the weather nor the rain. These just are. You believe (or don&#8217;t believe) a proposition <em>about<\/em> the rain. And propositions are made of concepts and objects; concepts are tools for thinking about things. Most of our thinking is just freely combing concepts and objects in propositions, comparing them with experience (sometimes with our memory of experience), and deciding whether or not they are true, making up our minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to emphasise that thinking is a matter of diving down into the depths beneath our beliefs. We can use thought to really <em>understand<\/em> what our propositions mean by <em>imagining<\/em> the facts and situations they imply. Intuition serves as a kind of limit to what we can imagine. Thinking helps us to imagine what is possible; and thinking a little harder lets us expand our sense of the possible, broaden our imagination. Thinking allows us to be counter-intuitive. Indeed, maybe thought is simply counter-intuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I conclude with the perhaps profound thought that<strong> thinking is simply an openness to being wrong<\/strong> about things. To be capable of thinking is a capacity to acknowledge the possibility that our beliefs may be false. That&#8217;s what we have propositions for: they are what mean, whether or not we are right. Thinking exercises our ability to admit that we are wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two main books I talked about are \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/libsearch.cbs.dk\/permalink\/45KBDK_CBS\/1i6rvdp\/alma990005527760305765\">Daniel Kahneman\u2019s\u00a0<em>Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and<a href=\"https:\/\/libsearch.cbs.dk\/permalink\/45KBDK_CBS\/1i6rvdp\/alma9910236978905765\">\u00a0Robert Brandom\u2019s\u00a0<em>Articulating Reasons<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em> I also mentioned <a href=\"https:\/\/libsearch.cbs.dk\/permalink\/45KBDK_CBS\/1srlcq0\/cdi_jstor_primary_2251430\">Gottlob Frege&#8217;s &#8220;On Concept and Object&#8221;<\/a>, Immanuel <a href=\"https:\/\/libsearch.cbs.dk\/permalink\/45KBDK_CBS\/1i6rvdp\/alma9910507649005765\">Kant&#8217;s <em>Critique of Pure Reason<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>and<em> <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/libsearch.cbs.dk\/permalink\/45KBDK_CBS\/1i6rvdp\/alma990000217660305765\">Michel Foucault&#8217;s <em>Archaeology of Knowledge<\/em><\/a> in passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=4568\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"4568\">&#8220;The Art of Thinking&#8221;<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=2949\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2949\">&#8220;How to Imagine Concepts&#8221;<\/a> (and <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=2941\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2941\">&#8220;&#8230;Dragons&#8221;<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=2715\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2715\">&#8220;Conceptualize, Analyze, Discuss&#8221;<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?p=3138\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3138\">&#8220;Theories, Concepts, and Models&#8221;<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the (slightly retouched) drawings from the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think2-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/think1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are videos from previous years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Think\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4NCRel8cjAc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Video from October 5, 2022 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Art of Learning: How to Think\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VDWGx3K5bD8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Video from 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Part of the&nbsp;Art of Learning&nbsp;series.) In order to learn anything at all you have to make up your mind about what you think is true. You have to get your mind around it. You can\u2019t know something if you don\u2019t believe it, and you shouldn\u2019t believe it if you don\u2019t understand it. Our ability to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/?page_id=4517\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to Think<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":4266,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4517","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4517"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7719,"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4517\/revisions\/7719"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inframethodology.cbs.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}