Just to add some more examples, I frequently pick up on some of the following things in casual social situations:
Use of textbook biases and logical fallacies
Reliance on “common sense” or “obviousness”
Failure to recognized nuanced situations (false dichotomies)
Failing at other minds
Failure to recognize diminishing marginal returns
Failure to draw a distinction between the following concepts:
Correlation and causation
Description and norm (is and ought)
Fact and interpretation
Necessary and sufficient
Entertaining an idea and accepting it
What distinguishes someone who has not learned how to think abstractly isn’t just that they make these mistakes, but that when you call them on it and explain the principle to them, they still don’t know what their mistake means or how it could weaken their position in any way. A good counterexample or parable usually helps them see what they’re overlooking, though.
Just to add some more examples, I frequently pick up on some of the following things in casual social situations:
Use of textbook biases and logical fallacies
Reliance on “common sense” or “obviousness”
Failure to recognized nuanced situations (false dichotomies)
Failing at other minds
Failure to recognize diminishing marginal returns
Failure to draw a distinction between the following concepts:
Correlation and causation
Description and norm (is and ought)
Fact and interpretation
Necessary and sufficient
Entertaining an idea and accepting it
What distinguishes someone who has not learned how to think abstractly isn’t just that they make these mistakes, but that when you call them on it and explain the principle to them, they still don’t know what their mistake means or how it could weaken their position in any way. A good counterexample or parable usually helps them see what they’re overlooking, though.