Hacker News Reader

I wouldn't be so harsh. Yes, his choice of words could have been better. But it's obvious that to exert relevant subjective judgment you need careful reasoning. I think what he meant in this context is that you can't use deductive reasoning as the main learning strategy in literature and history.

View on HN

Uh,

But he isn't presenting some random opinion, he's claiming he's teaching how think clearly and one assumes he's trying to present well by example. Well, strike-three.

-- I think contrary to his rules, I don't think there is any set, global rules for presentation beyond the basic language skills he correctly says are rather in-born. What there are is a series of interlocking conventions and strategies on a per-subject and per-topic basis. Learning those well takes a long time and can't be summarized by a how-to...

I think what he meant in this context is that you can't use deductive reasoning as the main learning strategy in literature and history.

If you're not using deductive reasoning in the study of history or literature you're doing something horribly wrong. The authors statement is flat out wrong, no matter how you spin it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com