Thinking to Some Purpose PDF
Preview Thinking to Some Purpose
Thinking to Some Purpose ‘I am convinced of the urgent need for a democratic people to think clearly without the distortions due to unconscious bias and unrec- ognized ignorance. Our failures in thinking are in part due to faults which we could to some extent overcome were we to see clearly how these faults arise. It is the aim of this book to make a small effort in this direction.’ – Susan Stebbing, from the Preface Despite huge advances in education, knowledge and communication, it can often seem we are neither well trained nor well practised in the art of clear thinking. Our powers of reasoning and argument are less confident than they should be, we frequently ignore evidence and we are all too often swayed by rhetoric rather than reason. But what can you do to think and argue better? First published in 1939 but unavailable for many years, Susan Steb- bing’s Thinking to Some Purpose is a classic first-aid manual of how to think clearly, and remains astonishingly fresh and insightful. Written against a background of the rise of dictatorships and the collapse of democ- racy in Europe, it is packed with useful tips and insights. Stebbing offers shrewd advice on how to think critically and clearly, how to spot illogical statements and slipshod thinking, and how to rely on reason rather than emotion. At a time when we are again faced with serious threats to democracy and freedom of thought, Stebbing’s advice re- mains as urgent and important as ever. This Routledge edition of Thinking to Some Purpose includes a new Fore- word by Nigel Warburton and a helpful Introduction by Peter West, who places Susan Stebbing’s classic book in historical and philosoph- ical context. Susan Stebbing (1885–1943) was a leading figure in British philosophy between the First and Second World Wars. The first woman in the UK to be ap- pointed to a full professorship in philosophy, in 1933, she taught at Bedford College (now Royal Holloway University). She was best known for her work on logic before turning more generally to the study of thinking and reasoning. At a time when analytic philosophy was largely confined to technical questions, her work stood out for engaging with contemporary issues and addressing a wider public audience. Philosophy and the Physicists (1937) and Thinking to Some Pur- pose (1939) were critiques of the language used in popular science communication and in everyday genres such as political speeches, advertisements and newspaper editorials. Susan Stebbing Thinking to Some Purpose With a new Foreword by Nigel Warburton and a new Introduction by Peter West Cover image: © Sergi Calaff Bayes / Getty Images Back cover image: Susan Stebbing, by Howard Coster, half-plate film negative, 1939, © National Portrait Gallery, London, CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 First published by Routledge in 2022 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Foreword © 2022 Nigel Warburton Introduction © 2022 Peter West All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First published in 1939 by Penguin Books Ltd. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Stebbing, L. Susan (Lizzie Susan), 1885–1943. Title: Thinking to some purpose / Susan Stebbing ; with a new foreword by Nigel Warburton and a new introduction by Peter West. Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | First published in 1939. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021059971 (print) | LCCN 2021059972 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032280660 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032155951 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003295181 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Thought and thinking. Classification: LCC BC108 .S83 2022 (print) | LCC BC108 (ebook) | DDC 153.4/2—dc23/eng/20211217 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059971 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059972 ISBN: 978-1-032-28066-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-15595-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-29518-1 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/b22927 Typeset in Joanna by codeMantra IN MEMORIAM H. L. S. B. P. S. And if we have a right to know any Truth whatsoever, we have a right to think freely, or (according to my Definition) to use our Understandings, in endeavouring to find out the Meaning of any Proposition whatsoever, in considering the nature of the Evidence for or against it, and in judging of it according to the seeming Force or weakness of the evidence: because there is no other way to discover the Truth. Anthony Collins, A Discourse of Free-Thinking, 1713 Contents FOREWORD BY NIGEL WARBURTON xi INTRODUCTION BY PETER WEST xv PREFACE TO THE 1939 EDITION xxix 1 Prologue: Are the English Illogical? 1 2 Thinking and Doing 14 3 A Mind in Blinkers 27 4 You and I: I and You 41 5 Bad Language and Twisted Thinking 53 6 Potted Thinking 65 7 Propaganda: An Obstacle 77 8 Difficulties of an Audience 92 9 Illustration and Analogy 107 10 The Unpopularity of Being Moderate 130
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