Module 15. Intellectual Freedom & Responsibility

Many people have not developed their capacity to reason to the same degree which students of logic have. This gives a logic student certain advantages, but also brings with it certain ethical responsibilities. The responsibilities of sound reasoners include:

1. The social responsibilities of scholarship, ethics, and understanding;
2. The epistemic responsibilities of curiosity, critical judgment, and openness to change; and, lastly,
3. The individual responsibilities of fairness, keeping perspective, and imagination.

• 15.1 Social Freedoms and Responsibilities
  • 15.1.1 Scholarship
    • The Freedom to Evaluate Expertise
    • Scholarship: The Responsibility to Track Expertise
  • 15.1.2 Practical Ethics
    • Freedom from Convention
    • Practical Ethics: Evaluating Social Conventions
  • 15.1.3 Understanding
    • Understanding: Listening to your Opposition
    • A Political Example
    • The Importance of Being Critical
  • Submodule 15.1 Quiz
• 15.2 Epistemic Freedoms and Responsibilities
  • 15.2.1 Critical Judgment
    • Occam’s Razor
    • Critical Judgment and Three Explanatory Virtues of Simplicity
  • 15.2.2 Curiosity
    • Curiosity: Always Looking for Better Explanations
    • The Principle of Sufficient Reason
  • 15.2.3 Change
    • Change: Updating Your Beliefs
    • Cognitive Dissonance
    • Motivated Reasoning
    • Sunk Cost Fallacy
  • Submodule 15.2 Quiz
• 15.3 Individual Freedoms and Responsibilities
  • 15.3.1 Fairness
    • Fairness: Avoiding Double-Standards
    • Self-Serving Bias
  • 15.3.2 Perspective
    • Perspective: Keeping History in Mind
    • Appeal to Tradition
    • Appeal to Status Quo
    • Appeal to Novelty
  • 15.3.3 Imagination
    • Imagination: How Things Might Have Been
  • Submodule 15.3 Quiz