Is the Juice Worth

the Squeeze?

Textbook Library

I collect textbooks. Yup. I do.

For one of my birthdays, when my wife asked me what I wanted, my response was a textbook about thermodynamics and that was one of my gifts.

Does it mean I’m very smart? Nope.

It means I’m insatiably curious but my brain can only process and retain a limited amount of information.

Therefore, my strategy to learn different subjects is to focus on grasping the basic concepts and terminology sufficient enough to (1) engage in some type of informed conversation with individuals who are knowledgeable in the field, (2) know how to ask questions and independently find answers (such as in textbooks), and (3) find ways to make connections with other knowledge domains.

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One strategy I used to frugally build a textbook library, especially while attending school, was to buy used textbooks at university bookstores. One “steal” I purchased many years ago was a used book titled Introduction to Logic, 10th Edition, by Irving M. Coopi and Carl Cohen.

Each section and chapter would start with a quote, and below was a quote by Edith Watson Schipper, a philosophy professor, to start “Part One: Reasoning”.

All our lives we are giving and accepting reasons.

Reasons are the coin we pay for the beliefs we hold.

We are creatures of reasoning, but how well do we reason?

If you want to hone your reasoning skills, then I invite you to study Logic, which is a branch of Philosophy.

Logic is the study of the methods and principles used to distinguish correct reasoning from incorrect reasoning.

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The keyword in the above definition is “distinguish”, which is to perceive a difference or to mentally separate. ³

Therefore, what specific methods can you use to determine if you are providing sound reasoning or incorrect reasoning, or accepting sound or incorrect reasoning, per Edith’s profound quote?

How important is this ability?

Would you agree with the following statement as one of the reasons this ability is important?

Good reasoning is the most dependable instrument of inquiry

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If one of your goals is to be a polymath or a life-long learner, then a foundational study of logic may increase your underlying abilities of exploration and study necessary to achieve it.

Expectancy Theory

The search for reasons starts at a young age when children begin asking:

Why?…Why?…Why?…

One of the most complex questions starting with “why” is understanding the reasons why an individual behaves a certain way and—by extension—groups of individuals acting as a collective. The reason for the assertion of complexity is the astronomical number of combinations of actions and underlying motivations & intents behind human behavior at the individual—and especially the group—level.

There are several theories of motivation but one I find particularly useful is Expectancy Theory, which was first presented by Victor Vroom. He was a psychologist and business school professor at Yale University. ⁵

The primary reason I like the model is it can be integrated with other theories into a larger framework to analyze behavior. Below is the definition from one of my old textbooks used during an organizational behavior class while pursuing my MBA.