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Thinking to some purpose: A manual of first-aid to clear thinking, showing how to detect illogicalities in other people's mental processes and avoid them in our own.
Stebbing’s most popular work is Thinking to some purpose (1939). The work arose out of a a synopsis she wrote for a series of radio broadcasts intended for the BBC. Published on the eve of the Second World War, Stebbing wrote:
“There is an urgent need to-day for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and and personal desires.”
Some of our ineffective thinking arises from a proper desire to have a confident opinion about complicated issues. Unfortunately, “few true statements about a complicated state of affairs can be expressed in a single sentence. … We easily fall into the habit of accepting compressed statements which save us from the trouble of thinking. Thus arises what I shall call Potted Thinking:
“This metaphor seems to me to be appropriate, because potted thinking is easily accepted, is concentrated in form, and has lost the vitamins essential to mental nourishment. You will notice that I have continued the metaphor by using the word ‘vitamins.’ Do not accept the metaphor too hastily: it must be expanded. Potted meat is sometimes a convenient form of food; it may be tasty, it contains some nourishment. But its nutritive value is not equivalent to that of the fresh meat from which it was potted. Also, it must have originally been made from fresh meat, and must not be allowed to grow stale. Similarly a potted belief is convenient; it can be stated briefly, sometimes also in a snappy manner likely to attract attention. A potted belief should be the outcome of a belief that is not potted. It should not be held on to when circumstances have changed and new factors have come to light. We should not allow our habits of thought to close our minds, nor rely upon catch-words to save ourselves from the labour of thinking. Vitamins are essential for the natural growth of our bodies; the critical questioning at times of our potted beliefs is necessary for the development of our capacity to think to some purpose.”
“There is an urgent need to-day for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and and personal desires.”
Some of our ineffective thinking arises from a proper desire to have a confident opinion about complicated issues. Unfortunately, “few true statements about a complicated state of affairs can be expressed in a single sentence. … We easily fall into the habit of accepting compressed statements which save us from the trouble of thinking. Thus arises what I shall call Potted Thinking:
“This metaphor seems to me to be appropriate, because potted thinking is easily accepted, is concentrated in form, and has lost the vitamins essential to mental nourishment. You will notice that I have continued the metaphor by using the word ‘vitamins.’ Do not accept the metaphor too hastily: it must be expanded. Potted meat is sometimes a convenient form of food; it may be tasty, it contains some nourishment. But its nutritive value is not equivalent to that of the fresh meat from which it was potted. Also, it must have originally been made from fresh meat, and must not be allowed to grow stale. Similarly a potted belief is convenient; it can be stated briefly, sometimes also in a snappy manner likely to attract attention. A potted belief should be the outcome of a belief that is not potted. It should not be held on to when circumstances have changed and new factors have come to light. We should not allow our habits of thought to close our minds, nor rely upon catch-words to save ourselves from the labour of thinking. Vitamins are essential for the natural growth of our bodies; the critical questioning at times of our potted beliefs is necessary for the development of our capacity to think to some purpose.”
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
326 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1939
8 people are currently reading
419 people want to read
About the author
L. Susan Stebbing
26 books12 followersL. (Lizzie) Susan Stebbing was a British philosopher of the 1930s generation of analytic philosophy.
Works
* Pragmatism and French Voluntarism (1914)
* A Modern Introduction to Logic (1930)
* Logical Positivism and Analysis (1933)
* Logic in Practice (1934)
* Imagination and Thinking (1936) with C. Day Lewis
* Thinking to Some Purpose (1939)
* Philosophy and the Physicists (1937)
* Ideals and Illusions (1941)
* A Modern Elementary Logic (1943)
Many works are out of print and copyright and are therefore available on many free e-book sites, such as: http://www.archive.org/
Works
* Pragmatism and French Voluntarism (1914)
* A Modern Introduction to Logic (1930)
* Logical Positivism and Analysis (1933)
* Logic in Practice (1934)
* Imagination and Thinking (1936) with C. Day Lewis
* Thinking to Some Purpose (1939)
* Philosophy and the Physicists (1937)
* Ideals and Illusions (1941)
* A Modern Elementary Logic (1943)
Many works are out of print and copyright and are therefore available on many free e-book sites, such as: http://www.archive.org/
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 2, 2020
Relationship to truth:
I don't wish myself, and my inherent ugliness, to mar, right?
Meaning, if I complain, that this book, was not Asterix...
then at one remove, that is completely irrelevant, right?
It is I who am in the incorrect place, and not the book.
Here. It'd be great, if there were something, that were clear. Once and for all.
However, it's a constant process, I assume, one of getting dirty, and then clean again, it being clarity.
This book, was written, at the start of the second part of a war that consumed much of the world, 1939, and often quotes the political (men) of the time- Stanley Baldwin, Lord Cecil's resignation letter, etc.
It's a lecture.
Description: A trusted guide, Dr. Susan Stebbing, and it feels a bit like an after dinner speech, or... tries to draw from her experience the different ways in which a person may be unclear. We an audience are taken into her confidence, so. That is the tone of the piece.
Reaction: Actually getting someone, to leave the force majeure, of just doing, and to think about what they are doing, or the consequences , of what they are saying... is work that requires a strength similar to manual labour, I submit. It's rather unforgiving? meaning, some people, would not benefit, from a university education/ some people, would never learn, aaaand. what becomes of such people? are they left in the outer darkness, or what. All I'm saying is, to treat the world so carefully, may only be a talent of a few people.
Having said that, buoyed by an optimism, to think that, one of those few, could be me, and I could learn how to do this, from Dr. Stebbing... The stakes are sufficiently high, I will not capture now the things I hoped to say. Good day.
I don't wish myself, and my inherent ugliness, to mar, right?
Meaning, if I complain, that this book, was not Asterix...
then at one remove, that is completely irrelevant, right?
It is I who am in the incorrect place, and not the book.
Here. It'd be great, if there were something, that were clear. Once and for all.
However, it's a constant process, I assume, one of getting dirty, and then clean again, it being clarity.
This book, was written, at the start of the second part of a war that consumed much of the world, 1939, and often quotes the political (men) of the time- Stanley Baldwin, Lord Cecil's resignation letter, etc.
It's a lecture.
Description: A trusted guide, Dr. Susan Stebbing, and it feels a bit like an after dinner speech, or... tries to draw from her experience the different ways in which a person may be unclear. We an audience are taken into her confidence, so. That is the tone of the piece.
Reaction: Actually getting someone, to leave the force majeure, of just doing, and to think about what they are doing, or the consequences , of what they are saying... is work that requires a strength similar to manual labour, I submit. It's rather unforgiving? meaning, some people, would not benefit, from a university education/ some people, would never learn, aaaand. what becomes of such people? are they left in the outer darkness, or what. All I'm saying is, to treat the world so carefully, may only be a talent of a few people.
Having said that, buoyed by an optimism, to think that, one of those few, could be me, and I could learn how to do this, from Dr. Stebbing... The stakes are sufficiently high, I will not capture now the things I hoped to say. Good day.
April 25, 2021
I'm pretty sure this dusty tome is out of print. I bought a reprint from India. I think most modern educated people would find many of the concepts here to be platitudes, but the author writes very clearly (possibly at the apex of 20th-century grammar and usage), and the examples from 1930s UK political figures are fascinating; mostly because these important people and their prewar concerns were so overshadowed by what was to come.
February 28, 2023
Book of the Day – Thinking to Some Purpose
Today’s Book of the Day is THINKING TO SOME PURPOSE, written by Susan Stebbing in 1939 (I have read the 2022 edition) and published by Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Susan Stebbing (1885 – 1943) was a British Philosopher. She was a brilliant exponent of analytic philosophy and was one of the founders of Analysis, a peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy established in 1933.
Stebbing was also the first woman to hold a philosophy chair in the United Kingdom, at Bedford College, and the first female President of Humanists UK.
I have chosen this book because today we live in a period, like the one in the first edition of the book, where people seem to have forgotten how to think about the values and the implications of our lives.
We have a war in Europe, as in 1939, and many seem to think more about discussing on social media rather than actively cooperating to end it.
Thinking to some purpose is Stebbing’s most popular work. The work came out of a synopsis she wrote after being asked by BBC to conduct a series of radio broadcasts on current affairs and as a positive contribution to the public intellectual debate of the time.
As the book was published just before Second World War, Stebbing wrote:
“There is an urgent need to-day for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires”.
She was convinced that it was imperative that the voters should have enough understanding of rhetoric and how certain politicians can use it, so as to be able to make considerate choices.
Her idea, the one at the core of this book, is that “the citizens must be able to think relevantly, that is, to think to some purpose. Thus to think is difficult. Accordingly, it is not surprising, however saddening it may be, that many of our statesmen do not trust the citizens to think, but rely instead upon the arts of persuasion“.
The book is full of analyses of how language and discourse are used by those trying to persuade others to take a specific decision instead of another one: politicians, of course, but also journalists, clergymen, and advertisers or people in marketing.
Stebbing passionately invites readers to hone their linguistic and critical skills in order to identify bias in discourse and understand the final purpose of every statement they read or hear.
I absolutely love this point as it represents the same topic of my thesis, where I developed an algorithm to detect bias in language by detecting which words, as also Stebbing suggests, are used and which are avoided when keeping a point.
The author makes the readers aware that an ill use of language skills by politicians can induce people to passively accept simplified statements that have the final goal to let people avoid the trouble of thinking. This is what Stebbing calls Potted Thinking.
“Such a way of thinking is convenient; it can be stated briefly, sometimes also in a snappy manner likely to attract attention. A potted belief should be the outcome of a belief that is not potted. It should not be held on to when circumstances have changed and new factors have come to light. We should not allow our habits of thought to close our minds, nor rely upon catch-words to save ourselves from the labour of thinking. Vitamins are essential for the natural growth of our bodies; the critical questioning at times of our potted beliefs is necessary for the development of our capacity to think to some purpose”.
I invite everyone to read this book as it really represents an excellent opportunity to become aware of how some people every day try to manipulate our way of thinking, our opinion, and our choices.
Today’s Book of the Day is THINKING TO SOME PURPOSE, written by Susan Stebbing in 1939 (I have read the 2022 edition) and published by Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Susan Stebbing (1885 – 1943) was a British Philosopher. She was a brilliant exponent of analytic philosophy and was one of the founders of Analysis, a peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy established in 1933.
Stebbing was also the first woman to hold a philosophy chair in the United Kingdom, at Bedford College, and the first female President of Humanists UK.
I have chosen this book because today we live in a period, like the one in the first edition of the book, where people seem to have forgotten how to think about the values and the implications of our lives.
We have a war in Europe, as in 1939, and many seem to think more about discussing on social media rather than actively cooperating to end it.
Thinking to some purpose is Stebbing’s most popular work. The work came out of a synopsis she wrote after being asked by BBC to conduct a series of radio broadcasts on current affairs and as a positive contribution to the public intellectual debate of the time.
As the book was published just before Second World War, Stebbing wrote:
“There is an urgent need to-day for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires”.
She was convinced that it was imperative that the voters should have enough understanding of rhetoric and how certain politicians can use it, so as to be able to make considerate choices.
Her idea, the one at the core of this book, is that “the citizens must be able to think relevantly, that is, to think to some purpose. Thus to think is difficult. Accordingly, it is not surprising, however saddening it may be, that many of our statesmen do not trust the citizens to think, but rely instead upon the arts of persuasion“.
The book is full of analyses of how language and discourse are used by those trying to persuade others to take a specific decision instead of another one: politicians, of course, but also journalists, clergymen, and advertisers or people in marketing.
Stebbing passionately invites readers to hone their linguistic and critical skills in order to identify bias in discourse and understand the final purpose of every statement they read or hear.
I absolutely love this point as it represents the same topic of my thesis, where I developed an algorithm to detect bias in language by detecting which words, as also Stebbing suggests, are used and which are avoided when keeping a point.
The author makes the readers aware that an ill use of language skills by politicians can induce people to passively accept simplified statements that have the final goal to let people avoid the trouble of thinking. This is what Stebbing calls Potted Thinking.
“Such a way of thinking is convenient; it can be stated briefly, sometimes also in a snappy manner likely to attract attention. A potted belief should be the outcome of a belief that is not potted. It should not be held on to when circumstances have changed and new factors have come to light. We should not allow our habits of thought to close our minds, nor rely upon catch-words to save ourselves from the labour of thinking. Vitamins are essential for the natural growth of our bodies; the critical questioning at times of our potted beliefs is necessary for the development of our capacity to think to some purpose”.
I invite everyone to read this book as it really represents an excellent opportunity to become aware of how some people every day try to manipulate our way of thinking, our opinion, and our choices.
February 15, 2021
Stebbing sets for herself the chore of teaching folk in GB how to read an argument for how well it is
presented logically. She talks about the errors in logic and reasoning used in speeches or writings to convince someone that you are right, that they are right, and how to espy or correct some pretty
awful reasoning presented by any number of public figures.
She talks of potted thinking, her term, which uses slogans that have no thought or consideration behind them at all. Education is the art which teaches men to be deceived by the printed word. p. 85
She is concerned with what she calls any in thinking.
. . . even the younger amount us may be mistaken. p. 94
An angry man is not likely to argue effectively, still less to think clearly. p 193
. . . ignoratio elenchi i. e., the mistake of disregarding the opponent's contention. p. 195
. . . to prove something not contrary to the thing to the thing asserted. p. 194
ignoratio elahchi ignorance of proof.
The cost of thinking effectively is a difficult vigilance. p. 205
presented logically. She talks about the errors in logic and reasoning used in speeches or writings to convince someone that you are right, that they are right, and how to espy or correct some pretty
awful reasoning presented by any number of public figures.
She talks of potted thinking, her term, which uses slogans that have no thought or consideration behind them at all. Education is the art which teaches men to be deceived by the printed word. p. 85
She is concerned with what she calls any in thinking.
. . . even the younger amount us may be mistaken. p. 94
An angry man is not likely to argue effectively, still less to think clearly. p 193
. . . ignoratio elenchi i. e., the mistake of disregarding the opponent's contention. p. 195
. . . to prove something not contrary to the thing to the thing asserted. p. 194
ignoratio elahchi ignorance of proof.
The cost of thinking effectively is a difficult vigilance. p. 205
April 12, 2023
Though written in the 1930s it’s shockingly relevant for today’s world, not least for identifying and understanding the many false arguments pushed by politicians, journalists and social media loudmouths.
December 4, 2024
In an age of AI, 'alternative facts ' and bare faced lying, frighteningly prescient.
One of the best arguments I have read for striving to improve the educational system.
One of the best arguments I have read for striving to improve the educational system.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews