Author: John Devos

Identifying and dealing effectively with logical fallacies is only one part of informal logic. Informal logic is the kind we use during everyday discussions and information-gathering. The other part of this discipline is truth-knowing. 

Knowing the truth has become a huge issue in today’s climate of ubiquitous social media on which everyone’s opinion gets airtime, seemingly unlimited media outlets for information dissemination, and the overwhelming role that technology plays in all of it. So, let’s spend a short, video-less episode pointing ourselves in the right direction.

One of my favorite posters on Quora is Peter Kruger, an attorney in Wisconsin, who is a seeming polymath with some experience in astrophysics, woodworking, welding, and teaching English. His posts are always well-crafted and informative, so I wasn’t surprised when I came across a fantastic – if not also rather lengthy – delve into truth-finding by Mr. Kruger. The post functions as a sort of primer on vetting sources and is absolutely the best writing on the subject I have seen lately. He does use some profanity and his politics have a decidedly moderate-liberal slant, but read around all that, if you want, and you will have learned a great deal about identifying credible information sources.

The essence of his post is this list of questions you should consider about any information source:

• Do I want to believe the source? Do I have a confirmation bias?
• Is it a primary, secondary, or tertiary source? Or a combination? Why does it matter?
• What actual, verified FACTS (not opinions) does it contain?
• What inferences can reasonably be drawn from the facts, and do you have all of the facts to draw accurate inferences?
• What is the authorial bias? (Kruger’s treatment of this subject is outstanding!)
• What degree of institutional integrity does this source have?

Just listing these questions does not do his work justice, so I have reproduced his post here on this blog, verbatim. I hope he does not mind. I don’t think he will, since the whole thing is out there on Quora, anyway. If I get any kind of cease-and-desist request, I will immediately comply. So you’d better go read it now, if you are so inclined.

A great exercise Mr. Kruger included in his post is this terrific infographic / cartoon strip from The Oatmeal.com. It is WELL worth your ten or fifteen minutes to watch it. No kidding. Viewing this graphic will be the best time you spend in the understanding of finding the truth.

Again, a quick reminder that this whole blog is designed to help you assimilate knowledge and skills that you can subsequently impart to the kids in your life. So, the overarching question is, “Can you imagine ways in which the information in this episode can be translated and transferred to said young ones?” Maybe this is a great topic for comments on this episode or a discussion on the forum…

Sept. 16 Edit: Just added some online resources about the Constitution below Dolley’s cake recipe at the end of this post. Some good stuff! Not sure how you plan to do your less-than-an-hour of reading the Constitution to celebrate September 17, but watching 100 celebrities, politicians, judges, and schoolkids do it on The Words That Built America has got to be the best way. 

I know I just got done posting the video for the last episode, but Constitution Day is right around the corner – this Thursday, September 17 – and I wanted to make sure you had time to get your ducks in a row. 🙂 This will be a video-less post. I am sure most of you are heaving a sigh of relief…

Also, wanted to prod those of you who are on the fence about using our new 21st Century Lyceum Forum to post about how your family is coping with the reopening of school while mitigating the Covid virus situation. I am one of the newest members of the waitlist for St. Louis University’s kidney transplant program. The first two hurdles are getting past a couple of VERY experienced nurses as they review one’s application for the program and then every medical record ever generated about a person. The reason this is pertinent is that during the couple of hours I was on the phone with Kathy (I know, it’s hard to believe I was on the phone for a couple of hours ;-). And I may have changed her name to protect the innocent.), we were discussing how families have been affected by recent events and what they could do to handle things.

Imagine, during the portion of the call when I was telling her about 21CL,  my surprise when she started talking about pods in exactly the same vein of thinking that I had considered discussing the idea with you all. She said, “Yeah, I think families should start forming pods. Kind of like some homeschoolers do. But they could still use the virtual programs that the local schools provide. This is just a way for parents to share child supervision not only between each other in a home, but between families in a neighborhood or group of friends. One parent watches a group of kids from four families part of one day. Another parent from the group watches them later.”

Wow. I have spent the past month trying to figure out how to say that on here. Thanks, Kathy. I hope her thoughts help a family or two get their juices flowing on this.

As for Consitution Day, we can read aloud at about 180 words a minute. The U. S. Constitution has just under 7600 words, including the amendments. That means that the whole thing can be read aloud in just under 45 minutes. I cannot honestly think of a better way to spend a September 17 afternoon or evening with family and friends. 

If you couple the reading of the most important political document in the history of mankind (yes, that’s my opinion – but I’m pretty sure most would agree…) with some family games like Trivial Pursuit, Stratego, or Twister (which is a great metaphor for the discussions that happened throughout the summer of 1787 in Philly) and a feast of dishes the Framers would have eaten on a daily basis, you have the makings of a great Constitution Day family party!

Some quick research turned up food and drink that would have been available to guests of various hotels and taverns of the time and place. You can Google it, too, but Carolinn and I decided on having some fish in honor of George Washington, who ate fish and other seafood from his own fisheries almost daily; a green bean and carrot dish called farce; macaroni and cheese, in honor of Jefferson (even though he was in France at the time); pickles, olives, chocolates, and other imported treats to the Philadelphia of the 1780s; and a cake made from an original Dolley Madison recipe. I’ve reproduced the cake and frosting recipes below, in case you are interested.

I have found myself becoming more and more nostalgic and reflective of that important summer 233 years ago as I watch our nation being stretched at the seams. The Constitutional Convention was rife with quarrels and belligerence, to be sure, but always undertaken with a spirit of resolving those disagreements with solid, practical, even compromised conclusions. I have much faith and hope that we will eventually begin treating our disagreements the way the 55 Framers did – with passion and loyalty for our own positions, but with respect and an open mind for those of others.

Have a great Constitution Day!

Dolley’s Cake Recipe:

“Dolley Madison’s Layer Cake
…This recipe for layer cake was a Madison specialty, frequently served to guests…
Egg whites
Butter
Sugar
Milk
Cornstarch
Flour
Vanilla
Beat the whites of 8 eggs until stiff and in peaks. Put aside. Cream 1 cup butter with 2 1/2 cups sugar. Add 1 cup milk slowly, mixing well. Add 3/4 cup cornstarch and 3 cups sifted flour to the butter-egg mixture. Mix well and add 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Fold in the egg whites carefully. Bake in 4 layer pans, well-greased. Bake in a medium (350 degrees F.) oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched lightly. Cool on racks and frost with Dolley Madison’s Caramel

“Caramel
Brown sugar
Light cream
Butter
Vanilla
Mix well 3 cups brown sugar, 1 cup cream, and 2 tablespoons butter. Put the mixture in the top of a double boiler and cook gently for 20 minutes. Just before removing from the stove, after the caramel has thickened, add 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir constantly. Remove and cool. Fill the layers of the cake and put the icing on top as well.”
—Presidents’ Cookbook (p. 89)

Some Constitutional Resources:

• PDF of US Constitution
• Annotated Constitution
• Summary of the Convention day-by-day
• Madison’s notes on the Convention– if you don’t have time to read Madison’s notes from each day of the Convention – and you probably don’t 🙂 – at least read his entry for the final day, which begins with Benjamin Franklin’s letter that was read to the group before the fruit of their labors was signed by all but three delegates.
• Article on Convention food
• Presidential foods
• The Words That Built America – the HBO documentary that features over 100 statesmen, celebrities, and schoolkids reading the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Takes 48 minutes to watch it all. If you want to skip the Declaration (but why would you?), start at 11:00 in. This is how Carolinn and I are going to do our Constitution Day reading…  🙂

Welcome back! I hope the first episode of this new blog was helpful and even enlightening!

In this second offering, I will go over some very rudimentary information about using logic in discussions. Then, we will dig a little deeper into logical fallacies, this week introducing red herring, slippery slope, circular reasoning, and to the stone arguments. I’ll also give you the first steps in countering or dealing with fallacies when you come across them.

As promised last week, we will discuss how American schooling transitioned from a mainly classical environment to the more de-intellectualized, vocational preparation it has largely become over the past century and a half. I have also added a personal note to the video to explain how and why I have become a student of the historical and philosophical foundations of education.

I am so glad you’re joining me for this first post to the 21st Century Lyceum blog!

The idea behind this blog site is to give parents, teachers, and anyone else who raises young people some insights into the teaching / learning process that might be a little innovative. Ironically, many of the ideas we will discuss first are over 2000 years old! Don’t let that bother you, though, because we’re going to integrate those ideas with some that have only just been introduced in the last few decades.

My goal is that this blog site will eventually become an interactive hub for the discussion of how to integrate these ideas into what we are already doing by folks who hang out with kids in public schools, private schools, homeschools, etc. – basically anywhere there are students and the adults who lead them.

I’m John Devos and I will do my best to guide us all through this journey into the best thinking about how to help our kids learn. Please participate by using the comments section below. (Of course, standard guidelines for online decorum apply – please don’t put me in the unenviable position of having to decide if your comments get to stay or have to go.)

Also, if you find the information here helpful, please make sure you use social media, email, etc. to let everyone know we are here, having the Great Conversation about thinking and learning.

This first post is mainly introductory and lays the groundwork for our future sessions. I also dive right into the first little taste of the content we will uncover by introducing the logical fallacies of ad hominem, non sequitur, and post hoc arguments. Don’t let all that Latin run you off – by the end of this first 22-minute video, you’ll be a pro at identifying all three and countering their effects in your daily interactions with others.