How We Reason

by Philip N. Johnson-Laird

Good reasoning can lead to success; bad reasoning can lead to catastrophe. Yet, it's not obvious how we reason, and why we make mistakes. This new book by one of the pioneers of the field, Philip Johnson-Laird, looks at the mental processes that underlie our reasoning. It provides the most accessible account yet of the science of reasoning.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Neuroscience, Science

573 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Philip N. Johnson-Laird is a professor at Princeton University's Department of Psychology and author of several notable books on human cognition and the psychology of reasoning.

Reviews

[TjeerdFokkens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very nice in that it contains many examples about reasoning both in the lab and in practice. The writing is good and lively and keeps the reader interested in the argument. A major -- and quite fundamental -- drawback, however, is that the theory of mental models is not well-defined; a problem which is common in the literature. This makes it difficult to see what the theory actually predicts. Instead, the book applies the vaguely formulated idea of mental models all too easily to a wide range of experiments, in hindsight. This is such a shame, as the theory, unless well-defined, could have the potential to explain the phenomena much more rigorously.
The conclusion is, in my opinion, that the theory of mental models needs to be formalised and then actively attempted to be falsified, after which a new book on the subject could be written.

[Alice Wardle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to give this one 5 stars because I love learning about reasoning and logic, and this included lots of excellent, valuable information.

I think the model theory of reasoning is interesting, plausible, though still quite vague. It explains how we reason quite well, but nothing is said about its implications. Given the comprehensive nature of the book, I would have liked to see some discussion on what the model theory means for perhaps AI, if the author considered that an important means, or about education, politics, or social science. Much is said about case studies of the past and how the model theory can be applied with little discussed about its future implications.

I can see it being of personal value. The model theory predicts how common errors in reasoning occur, and so being aware of how to reduce or prevent this from happening may allow me to reason more accurately in the future.

I felt as though the book was easy to follow, very well-written, though sometimes I forgot some terms or ideas as I was reading this for almost a year. As well as this, there were some points where I got lost somewhere in an explanation of something, and therefore couldn't understand a few paragraphs or pages. Though there were regular diagrams, I think some more abstract visuals with no words might have been helpful.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and found it very intriguing, and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in understanding a cognitive psychological approach to reasoning!