[Lecture Two] The Art of Thinking
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Course summary: In this course Dr. Peikoff explains what happens in the mind when one thinks and offers a structure for how to get better at thinking. He applies the key principles of Objectivist epistemology to everyday thinking. The course explains the mental process of changing one’s mind, the role of integration and essentialization in proper thinking, and the application of thinking in principle and what certainty means. Read more »
In this lecture: In this lecture, Dr. Peikoff explores the broader meaning of cognitive integration as it relates to thinking. He describes the role of integration throughout the stages of cognition with special attention to how we integrate our generalizations and higher order thinking. Focusing on the hierarchy of knowledge, he further identifies the way that our knowledge needs to have integration both in the vertical and horizontal directions. Using examples, he works through reductions of ideas to determine which is most fundamental.
Study Guide
This material is designed to help you digest the lecture content. You can also download below a PDF study guide for the entire course.
| What is integration in the broadest sense? |
| Why is integration a necessary component of human thinking? |
| How do both deduction and induction represent a kind of mental integration? |
| Using original examples, demonstrate inductive elements of induction and deduction. |
| How can one recognize thinking or a thinking method that is not integrated? |
| What is the difference between horizontal integration and vertical hierarchy? What is the same? |
| Attempt to find an argument in an opinion piece that violates the hierarchy principle. Describe how the concepts or arguments fail because of this. |
| Drawing from a field other than philosophy, illustrate arguments or concepts that exist on different levels of a hierarchy. |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 1:34:22 | Is “hierarchy” strictly an epistemological term? |
| 1:39:12 | You say that hierarchical integration is necessary to make your proof completely valid. What is the difference between “completely valid” and “valid”? |
| 1:40:50 | Are you worried about bringing rationalism into the discussion about integration and context-dropping? |
| 1:45:15 | Do you have any thoughts on how to solve “the problem of induction” or where to proceed? |
| 1:50:30 | How does deduction relate to horizontal integration? |