I am right, you are wrong: From this to the New Renaissance : from rock logic to water logic - Hardcover

De Bono, Edward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670830119 ISBN 13: 9780670830114

Publisher: Viking, 1990

Synopsis

A claim that we can now for the first time in history, begin to understand how the brain behaves as a self-organizing system in which information arranges itself into patterns. de Bono contends that logic and argument has proved very useful in dealing with technical matters but less so for dealing with human affairs. The implications of this change are spelled out in this book which suggests that humour is the most significant activity of the brain, that language is good at description but very poor on perception and that argument, the very basis of our adversarial systems, is a poor method of exchange. He also suggests that the brain is designed to set up belief systems and how our very tradition of truth and logic is only another belief system that sustains itself.

About this title

About the Author

Edward de Bono invented the concept of lateral thinking. A world-renowned writer and philosopher, he is the leading authority in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. Dr de Bono has written more than 60 books, in 40 languages, with people now teaching his methods worldwide. He has chaired a special summit of Nobel Prize laureates, and been hailed as one of the 250 people who have contributed most to mankind.

From Kirkus Reviews

A deceptively simple but consistently provocative appeal for perceptual (as opposed to structured) thinking from the author of Six Action Shoes (the trifle reviewed below), Tactics (1984), and several other works dealing with powers of the mind. As before, de Bono (an M.D. who no longer practices) challenges traditional Western thought processes on grounds that they are unequal to the task of solving the Global Village's many pressing problems. According to the author, orthodox methods of thinking are based on absolutes, a rigid insistence on facts, and other unproductive habits dating back to an ancient time when truth seekers like Aristotle relied on reason or its corollaries (analysis, logic, etc.) to free themselves from the bonds of dogma. While essentially adversarial methods are fine for achieving technological gains or winning arguments, de Bono says, such systems lack the originality and creativity required to deal with socioeconomic as well as political affairs. Describing the human brain as a self-organizing marvel, the author makes a strong case for what he calls ``water logic,'' a purportedly natural activity of the physical organ's neural network. By de Bono's account, water logic represents a fluid approach that provides the basis for new ideas, humor, insights, poetry, and other of civilization's more fruitful pleasures. On occasion, de Bono can be decidedly arbitrary in advancing his theories. Without much supporting evidence, for example, he dismisses language as a trap and characterizes humor as the intellect's most significant behavior (owning mainly to its asymmetry). In aid of breakthrough conjecture, however, the author is never less than thought-provoking, and his witty, allusive text is notable for its wealth of illuminating digressions. An offbeat treatise that charts a course out of the mainstream and along the varied routes that, perhaps, lead to unconventional wisdom. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670830119
• ISBN 13: 9780670830114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304