Q&A: Information Analysis
Information Analysis
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
I wanted to know whether you have a method/template that you apply in order to break down and analyze articles, posts, books, or any other kind of information. I find myself reading a great deal of material, but when it comes to writing, breaking things down, and critical analysis, I get stuck. I’m sure this requires a lot of experience and that there are no magic solutions—just a lot of hard thinking. In addition, I’m currently in a pre-academic program, and I’m convinced that I’ll learn how to do this during the degree itself. Even so, I really enjoy reading and seeing how the Rabbi breaks down and reconstructs arguments and every other kind of information. I’d be happy if you could share with us how to do this properly (assuming the Rabbi has some kind of template or method), or at least give a good foundation for getting started. I’m sure this would help a lot of people here—certainly me.
Thank you very much
Answer
I’ve already been asked about this, and I don’t have a simple answer. In the past I gave courses in critical reading at Kiryat Ono College. But that provided tools, not an algorithm. By the way, I don’t think academic studies give you these tools. Maybe a little, but in the end it all depends on you.
What I tried to teach at Kiryat Ono was to take the article and summarize it for yourself (and restrain yourself from forming your own opinion, and certainly not letting that influence you). After that, formulate it as a logical argument (premises and conclusion). Then examine each premise: do you agree with it, and if not, why not. Then examine the inference from the premises to the conclusion. In the end, see whether you agree with the conclusion itself, whether it really follows from the premises, and whether the premises are reasonable. It is important to understand that these are three independent questions.
I think that if you practice on different articles and try to apply this method to them, you’ll see that you improve a lot. I saw this with my students there. One of the indications that you’re improving is if you discover that articles that trigger resistance in you—after analysis, you suddenly see that they actually make sense, and you agree, or at least partly agree. That means you’re working properly (that is, not just from the gut).