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Intuition Pumps

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Intuition Pumps

And Other Tools For Thinking

W.W. Norton,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

To learn to be a better thinker, attend this master class in thinking.

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Engaging

Recommendation

This useful exploration of thinking provides a master class on thought by someone who has spent his life thinking about thinking. Philosophy professor Daniel C. Dennett’s clear prose and quiet humor make the book pleasant, and his insight makes it valuable. Be prepared, however: The text is more than 400 pages long and, as the introduction reminds you, “thinking is hard,” and, sometimes, so is reading about it. This treatise clearly springs from a larger conversation about how thought works, so those who are unfamiliar with related debates about cognitive function may be a little at sea. Dennett does not address bias or self-interested self-deception, but he is at home with complexity and urges his readers to embrace it. getAbstract recommends his overview to writers, teachers, students, strategists, problem solvers, futurists, amateur and professional philosophers, and anyone who wants to think more clearly.

Summary

Why You Need “Intuition Pumps”

“Thinking is hard.” Considering certain ideas or particular issues makes your head hurt. People tend to avoid thinking about difficult matters. When you must, you can utilize “thinking tools.” These vary in their nature, how you use them and what sorts of problems they best address.

These tools help you think better and, in the most-profound cases, allow groups of people to think better about a lot of things for a long time. For example, philosopher René Descartes thought up one such tool: the x-axis and y-axis of the Cartesian coordinate system. Highly useful in itself, this system also allows calculus, an incredibly useful mathematical tool. But many tools for thinking are not related to mathematics, including “thought experiments” that you might call “intuition pumps” because they redirect your thinking and inspire understanding in new ways.

A Dozen Tools for Thinking

When you encounter an intuition pump, use it and play with it; fiddle with each element of a scenario to see how the results change. These tactics and rules, these pumps, can help you think:

  1. “Making mistakes...

About the Author

Professor of philosophy at Tufts University and co-director of its Center for Cognitive Studies Daniel C. Dennett wrote Breaking the Spell and Darwin’s Dangerous Idea.

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