Thinking About Thinking

by Cassius Jackson Keyser

Unlock how true progress in science and understanding begins with autonomous thinking that goes beyond routine problem solving.


This nonfiction examines two big ways people empirical thinking, which gathers facts and builds knowledge from experience, and postulational thinking, which uses core assumptions to organize and extend that knowledge. Through accessible discussion and concrete examples, it shows how ideas move from data to deductive systems, and why postulates matter for truth in math, science, and beyond.


The author invites you to see thinking as an active, sometimes imperfect process that can be trained. By tracing how propositions become logically connected and how new doctrines arise from old ones, the book explains how some thinkers have advanced fields by identifying minimal sets of assumptions that unlock broader understanding. You’ll encounter engaging illustrations and careful, practical reasoning that illuminate how knowledge evolves.



How empirical knowledge is formed and applied across diverse fields
What makes a proposition depend on the postulates that underlie it
How autonomous thinking differs from everyday, subhuman or purely empirical responses
Why recognizing underlying postulates helps you evaluate ideas more clearly

Ideal for curious readers interested in the foundations of science, mathematics, and how we think about thinking.

105 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2015

About the author

American mathematician of pronounced philosophical inclinations