Six Steps to Better Thinking: How to Disagree and Get Along

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle

In a world of post truth politics, alternative facts, and fake news, there really are better
and worse ways to think about things and that disagreement need not lead to incivility,
hatred, or violence.
 e title of the book implies that some ideas are better than others. But what makes
them better? Luckily, much of the hard work has already been done. Philosophers,
mathematicians, logicians, scientists, writers, and many others have developed the
Critical  inking skills that allow all of us to make such valued distinctions. I have
taken these skills, and distilled them into six steps.
After learning these Six Steps, you will more e ectively communicate what it is you
believe and why it is you believe it so that people will have an easier time understanding
you. You will be empowered with the ability to better understand what people are
saying and to know why it is they are saying it. Your thinking will become better as well
because what emerges from your ability to understand and use these skills is an element
of diplomacy and fairness when having discussions about important issues. And this
leads directly to more civilized disagreement.