ABSTRACT
A chastening chapter title. It reminds me of an episode in bringing up my daughter that I would rather forget. It may have been the Milwaukee Maulers or the Chattanooga Cheetahs-I don’t recall exactly-but whichever team it was figured in an exercise on syllogisms in a logic text. I had got hold of it to hone my nine-year old-daughter’s thinking skills. How I cajoled her-and her mother-into working through examples like these and spotting invalidities I cannot now imagine. Quite likely I presented it as a new kind of family fun(!). At all events, it was hard going and I soon gave up syllogisms for logic puzzle books from our local newsagent. I thought they would be closer to real life, but working out whether Andrew who is vegetarian, likes fishing and volleyball but not soccer or swimming, and is free only on Mondays and Thursdays is taller than Brian, who…proved to be, if anything, even less riveting.
