I.

LAW and LOGIC

-man has always been a thinker and thinking has become
the primary human function; the ability to reason is critical
to the development of our full potential and protection of
our social liberties.
Logic is essential to the practice of law
-logic and law are intertwined; however, logic is often lost
in the legal discourse; lawyers are all guilty from time to
time in resorting to rhetoric.
-legal logic is the ultimate tool of persuasion in the
courtroom; when properly applied, it efficiently amplifies
the truth and disposes the lie; law is supposed to ignore
appeals to emotions and focus only on the application of
law to facts.
-arguments are the primary tools of the law profession
one cannot use them effectively unless he understands and
obeys the rules of logic; arguments require logic to be clear
and acceptable to a judge.
-good legal reasoning habits are essential to a quality law
practice; the use or misuse of logic promotes or impairs the
development of law.
Logic is essential to the study of law
-most writing and speaking in the legal profession is based
upon logical arguments; a law student cannot read case
books like a lawyer until he understands the basics of
logical thinking.
-logic is central to effective engagement in Socratic
dialogue; good reasons are not enough; a law student must
improve his argumentation skills; logical arguments are
bulletproof.
Law is not logical
-law involves complex considerations of justice, history,
equity, facts, customs and economics; law cannot be
reduced to a syllogism or legal mathematics.
-the life of the law is not logic but experience; life does not
exist for the sake of concepts but concepts for the sake of
life.
-it is not logic that is entitled to exists but what is claimed
by life, by social relations, by the sense of justice logical
necessity or logical impossibility is immaterial.
II. THINKING
-thinking independently is a basic human need

Shakespeare's King Henry VI the first thing we must do

is kill all the lawyers!)
-independent thinking was discouraged; for most of
recorded history independent thinking was extremely
dangerous; Socrates was put to death for his rational
challenge to the religious worship of the gods; Giordano
Bruno was subject to inquisition and burned alive at the
stake in 1600 when he refused to recant his radical writings
as to the Earth revolving around the Sun in a larger
Universe; and the so-called witches and wizards, were
tortured and killed in the middle ages for their free-thinking
magic
-real thinking is the function of relating, comparing and
contrasting to gain understanding and knowledge; legal
reasoning depends upon the power of seeing logical
connections in the cases, of recognizing similarities and
dissimilarities
-four basic functions of Man's consciousness are thinking;
sensing, feeling and willing. Briefly, "sensing" is the basic
intake of data and perceptions, pure unprocessed
information; the facts of the case. "Feeling" is the positive
or negative response, the likes and dislikes, desires, drives,
emotions and dreams; the equities of the case. "Willing" is
action, choice, control, deciding yes or no, movement; the
decision of the case. When thinking properly your thinking
is independent, grounded in the evidence (sensing) and the
equities (feeling), and leading to just decisions (willing).
-pseudo-thinking includes undisciplined mental processes
such as haphazard associations and blind repetition of the
thoughts of others
-legal thinking is pondering a given set of facts so as to
perceive their connection; this realization of a
connectedness or unity is what is meant by a "thought"; the
thought can be in words, symbols, or numbers, and can also
be in geometric patterns, images, tones, colors, movements
or kinesthetic processes; the act of making these
associations is thinking.
III. CRITICAL THINKING
-not what to think but how we think
-not what we believe but why we believe
-not fault-finding
-focused on exercising objective, fair and skilled judgment
-involves the application of the methods and principles of
logic (science of correct reasoning)

-prior to renaissance, blind faith in the church and

obedience to the state were demanded of everyone

Skills
-interpretive (analysis of the language)
-verification (ascertaining truth values)
-reasoning (basis and acceptability)
-asking relevant questions (meaning, truth and logic)

-then came the Magna Carta and the beginning of legal

constraints on the absolute power of the king; the law and
its servants then started to have power as society moved
from a feudal system of dictatorship to an urban system of
law; the surest way to chaos and tyranny was to remove the
guardians of independent thinking (as remarked in

Characteristics
-intellectual honesty
-objective judgment
-openness to criticisms
-independent thinking
-self-control

Importance
-higher order of thinking (active and intelligent evaluation)
-avoidance of foolish personal decisions (mistakes)
-protection of social liberties (informed decisions)

-self-respect (development of full potential; liberation from

our ignorance, prejudices and unexamined assumptions)