If logic were always logical, then why were so many things deduced incorrectly, and still continue to be? How could people logically draw different conclusions from the same set of information, sometimes without one conclusion among them being confirmable as the correct conclusion?

During my teens, as I developed my analytical mind, I was faced with these conundrums of misleading logic I could not fully rationalize. There were many reasons, as I found out, including insufficient information to have made a complete conclusion, lack of common values for interpretation of information, misunderstanding, and/or other factors. Individually or in combination, they allow for plausible sounding, logical conclusions to be drawn that are actually incorrect.

My skepticism about how logic is not always logical, is more a reminder for myself to keep a critical and open mind than it is true skepticism. It is easy to accept a good, logical sounding case about something as the rational conclusion to embrace when no view had yet been formed on the matter. It is much harder to let that go and change perspectives later, even when better logic clearly dictates it. That’s because the initial conclusion embraced might have entered into the realm of belief rather than stayed in the realm of deduction. Best to be critical and avoid embracing a few potentially shaky conclusions quickly, rather than to have to abandon them later for more correct conclusions, no matter how clear they might be. We humans just have a lot of trouble admitting we were wrong, especially in things we believed in rather than just some facts easy to delineate for being right or wrong.

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This post is one of 70 quotes I wrote, each with an accompanying essay, in my e-book and paperback Stars I Put in my Sky to Live By, on Amazon or Smashwords (choose your price including free!).