IndigoRose said:
Under what circumstances is logic the correct tool to use to make a decision? When is emotion more correct to use to make a decision? Under what circumstances are "appeals to emotion" the correct argument?
IndigoRose
There is a quote attributed to Jonathan Swift : "you do no reason a man out of something he was not reasoned into." There's a good article in
Skeptical Inquirer about the difficulty of using logic on people with regard to their (specifically) religious beliefs, but the difficulty generalizes. A lot of people I know object to gay marriage, for example, on the basis of an "ewwww"-style emotional response, against the gates of which the battering ram of reason can beat forever, without effect.
Logic is also a terrible tool for making decisions with when you either don't have enough information (and thus can't reach a decision), when some of your underlying assumptions are of questionable quality, or when you have too much information and can't sort through it all "logically." In cases like this, emotion, intuition, and reflexive judgement can be both more likely to reach a correct and timely judgement than "reason." None of the good poker players I know -- even the ones with Ph.D.'s in statistics -- use stats at the table. They just read the cards in my hands by staring into my soul. The hunch of an expert can be worth more than a thousand pages of close reasoning.
Logic, then, is only appropriate when you have the kind of information upon which it works, otherwise it's just a method of screwing up by the numbers. Emotion, of course, is also only appropriate when you have the kind of information -- usually, experience -- upon which it works. The trick is to know yourself well enough to judge between them.
I guess this means I disagree with Mr. Lister.
