Logic and Thinking
Thinking is a skill. Like any skill, it can be learned, practised, and improved. Every day you take in data, form opinions, and make decisions. But how do you know if the data is good? How do you tell a fact from an opinion? How do you spot when something doesn't make sense — and figure out how to make it right? This course gives you the tools of clear thinking. You'll start with the basics — what a thought is, what data is, and the three mental skills that make rational thinking possible: seeing differences, seeing similarities, and seeing when things are identical. You'll learn to sort data into categories — facts, opinions, laws, orders, and suggestions — so you always know what you're working with. Then you'll learn the five primary illogics: the five fundamental ways things go wrong. Missing data. Wrong sequence. Dropped time. Falsehood. Altered importance. Once you can spot these, you'll see them everywhere — in news stories, in workplace problems, in everyday confusion. For each illogic, there's a matching logic — the way things should be. You'll learn all five, and then use them as tools: outpoints (signs that something is wrong) and pluspoints (signs that something is right). Finally, you'll expand to the full set — fourteen outpoints and fourteen pluspoints — giving you a complete toolkit for evaluating any situation, any report, any plan. By the end, you won't just think more clearly. You'll have a precise, practical system for finding what's wrong, confirming what's right, and making better decisions in any area of life.
Section 1: Foundations of Thinking
Everything starts with a thought. A thought is a single mental picture or idea. Thinking is what happens when you connect thoughts together — comparing, weighing, deciding. But thinking doesn't happen in a vacuum. You need something to think *with*. That something is data. This section covers the building blocks: what a thought is, what data is, and the three fundamental skills that make clear thinking possible — seeing differences, seeing similarities, and seeing when things are identical. Together, these three skills form the basis of rationality. Before you can spot what's wrong or confirm what's right, you need to understand these foundations. Everything in the rest of the course builds on them.
Section 2: Kinds of Data
Not all data is the same. If someone says "it's raining outside," that's different from someone saying "I think it will rain tomorrow." One can be checked — the other is just a guess. This section teaches you to sort data into five categories: facts (things you can verify), opinions (ideas that may or may not come from facts), laws (rules about how things are), orders (things someone in authority tells you to do), and suggestions (ideas you can take or leave). Knowing which kind of data you're dealing with changes everything. It tells you what to trust, what to question, and what to test.
Section 3: The Five Primary Illogics
When things don't make sense, there's always a reason. It's not random — there's something specific that went wrong. This section introduces the idea of logical and illogical, and then covers the five primary illogics — the five fundamental ways things go wrong. Data can be missing. The sequence can be changed. Time can be left out. Something can be false. Or the importance of things can be shifted. These five illogics are the core of the course. Once you can spot them, you'll see them in news stories, workplace problems, arguments, and everyday confusion. They're the reason things stop making sense.
Section 4: The Five Primary Logics
For every way things go wrong, there's a way things go right. The five primary logics are the mirror image of the five primary illogics. Where omitted data means something is missing, "related facts known" means you have all the facts you need. Where altered sequence means things are out of order, "events in correct sequence" means everything is in the right place. Each logic tells you what the ideal looks like. And once you know the ideal, you can measure any situation against it.
Section 5: Outpoints, Pluspoints, and Reasoning
Now that you know the five illogics and five logics, you can use them as tools. An outpoint is a sign that something is wrong — a datum that doesn't fit. A pluspoint is a sign that something is right — a datum that checks out. Together, they give you a way to evaluate any situation, any report, any plan. But there's a catch: to spot outpoints, you first have to know how things *should* be. And there's a trap: "being reasonable" — making excuses for illogic instead of confronting it. This section gives you the tools and warns you about the pitfalls.
Section 6: The Extended Outpoints
The five primary illogics are the foundation — but they're not the whole picture. There are nine more outpoints to watch for. These cover subtler problems: assuming things are the same when they're different, or different when they're the same. Including data that doesn't belong. Aiming at the wrong target. Getting data from the wrong source. Having two facts that contradict each other. Adding time that doesn't fit, or data that doesn't apply. These extended outpoints sharpen your ability to spot what's wrong, even when the problem isn't obvious.
Section 7: The Extended Pluspoints and Using Logic
Every outpoint has a matching pluspoint. The five primary logics match the five primary illogics. The nine extended pluspoints match the nine extended outpoints. This final section completes the toolkit. You'll learn what "right" looks like for each of the extended outpoints — expected time, adequate data, applicable data, correct source, correct target, proper classification, and identities, similarities, and differences that are exactly what they appear to be. Then you'll put it all together. With fourteen outpoints and fourteen pluspoints, you have a complete system for evaluating any situation, finding what's wrong, confirming what's right, and deciding what to do about it.