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RE: Opinion: It's time to add 'reasoning' as the fourth 'R', Oct. 16, 2023
Peter Bursztyn, thank you for your opinion column. I appreciated your review of history and your conclusion regarding reasoning.
Nevertheless, I would suggest that reasoning without research is like trying to cook a lovely meal without knowing anything about the menu or the art of cooking.
In my opinion, a significant contributor to communal ignorance is vacuous opinions based on nothing more than listening to one or two sources of questionable information.
Before people can learn to critically analyze and think they must learn how to seek out reliable, trustworthy sources of information.
The sin of confirmation bias is rampant in our media sources. In order to reason, one must seek widely for information that provides factual data with which to reason, not just for information that confirms what we already know and believe.
Perhaps then we need research skills and reasoning added to the curriculum.
David Hoath, PhD, (Psych., Ret.)
Newmarket
