Methods and Tools of Thinking

Methods and Tools of Thinking

Thinking is always aimed at solving problems. It depends on two fixed paradigms—deduction and induction. The former extends outward from existing experience, while the latter seeks general principles within existing experience. Each mode of thought has its own strengths and weaknesses, but no matter how we criticize or endorse them, as human beings, none of us can generate entirely new ideas out of nothing. Our cognition always begins with what is known and stretches toward what is unknown; we confront the unknown world through the known one. Thinking is the most essential way in which one person differs from another, and in every field, the greatest individuals stand out precisely because of their ideas.

To a large extent, a person’s thinking is influenced by talent. The same notes, in the hands of Mozart or Beethoven, can be arranged into heavenly music. The same words, before Li Bai or Tagore, can blossom into brilliant writing. The same battlefield, under Genghis Khan or Alexander, can be swept through with unstoppable force. The same world, in the eyes of Newton or Einstein, reveals its underlying laws. Yet most of the time, for most people, success or failure has not reached the point where innate talent alone decides everything. Diligence, scientific training, and deliberate accumulation are reliable ways to improve one’s level of thinking. But such improvement is more like dripping water wearing through stone or a rope sawing through wood—a long, persistent effort rather than something achieved overnight.

There are two reasons for this, and together they determine the height and complexity of thought. One is the accumulation of raw material; the other is the construction of mental models.

If the process of thinking is a campaign from the known to the unknown, then the known part is like the soldiers in one’s own camp. Their number and quality form the basis of victory or defeat. Different experiences can accumulate different materials, and even the same experience can yield different materials. What is more, such accumulation is often not limited to one’s own experience, but depends on one’s ability to absorb and organize information. Gathering and organizing material is what happens behind the scenes of strategy. Acquiring material purposefully and systematically is a basic discipline, and this may require tools and techniques. “The palest ink is better than the best memory” is the most basic requirement. Mind maps, the Cornell note-taking system, the “empty-rain-umbrella” note-taking method, and others are all proven methods and techniques that can improve the combat effectiveness of these soldiers of thought. But methods are not conclusions. Whatever system one adopts, once the method is sound, persistence is the key.

Even with abundant troops, capable generals, and ample supplies, victory still requires a sufficiently sound strategy. Strategy is one’s mode of thinking. We should first build up our armaments as fully as possible, and then consider the steps and means of engagement. Induction and deduction are only broad rule-like concepts, like “offense” and “defense”; in actual application, they are endlessly variable. The accumulation of ways of thinking also depends heavily on experience. Geniuses like Wang Yangming, who could reason things through in the mind and then become famous in a single stroke, are exceedingly rare. More often, on the battlefield one sees seasoned generals who have survived countless campaigns, and thinking is no different. There is only one Einstein, but there are countless professors and students of physics. Most people still need systematic, professional, and long-term training in order to achieve anything meaningful. Education ought to be a training ground for cultivating and practicing the ability to think, with the teaching of basic knowledge coming only afterward in importance. But today the priorities have often been reversed: teachers focus on imparting knowledge and resolving doubts, without realizing that “transmitting the Way” is the true foundation. Therefore, self-directed and self-aware training in thinking has become all the more important in our time.

In practice, the accumulation of material and the training of thought should complement each other. One gathers and organizes a certain body of material for a particular problem or purpose, and then uses intellectual tools to arrive at a conclusion. This is a complete process of thinking. In that process, the tools and methods are themselves exercised and refined, becoming more mature and complete, and one’s own intellectual level gradually rises as well.