↖ Homepage of the site 'What to do with your life?'
      

What are the conditions required to produce serious reasoning?
Problem solving.

Addressing a problem involves carrying out the following process:
1. Recognize the problem.
2. Conduct a serious analysis.
3. Develop a solution, often partial.
4. Implement it.

The conditions for being able to carry out this process correctly, i.e., to produce serious reasoning, are:
1. That the person conducting the decision-making process possesses the necessary skills.
2. That they provide the amount of work required by the complexity of the subject.
3. That they are sincere in their conclusions as opposed to orienting them according to a particular interest.
4. That they are not victims of beliefs that would lead them to bias their conclusions in good faith.

The stages of the problem-solving process

As soon as one of the stages is bypassed, the final result is nullified, even if other stages have been treated very seriously.
Furthermore, one must obtain the explicit agreement of all participants that everything has been considered regarding one stage before moving on to the next. In this sense, problem solving is a form of respectful social interaction.

Recognize the problem

The main difficulties related to recognizing the problem are:

1. Having the courage to look the problem in the face, and even more so to risk confronting the social group that wishes to maintain the current functioning, i.e., to remain in denial,

2. Tracing back to the origin of the problem, and not contenting oneself with observing more visible negative consequences.

Conduct an analysis

The analysis answers the questions: Why, and how?

The main difficulties related to analysis are:

1. Producing an exhaustive analysis of the situation, and not contenting oneself with following certain privileged lines of inquiry,

2. Using reasoning consistent with logic, and based on established knowledge in accordance with the scientific method, and not on personal beliefs or collective dogmas.

3. The temptation to bypass the analysis and go directly to 'the solution'.

At the beginning of the analysis, each person has their own view of the subject, a product of their personal history, their skills, their beliefs, and different individuals do not necessarily give the same meaning to words. At the end of the analysis, participants must have a common view of the subject, which requires sharing their individual experiences, their knowledge, and agreeing on the precise meaning given to words.

During this analysis phase, each person demonstrates pedagogy towards the other, enabling them to benefit from their experience, so that the analysis prepares a consensual solution. Conversely, if one atrophies or bypasses the analysis, the 'developing a solution' phase will turn into a negotiation, a haggling between two a priori solutions. In other words, it is this extensive analysis phase that allows the formalism of problem solving to transform the nature of the relationship from a confrontation to reach a decision, from a power game, into a genuine exchange, a constructive collaboration.

Develop a solution

Often, the solution is only partial. This should not be an excuse to give up.
Beware of the temptation to rely on best practices. The best solution often involves a degree of creativity.

Implement it

Implementation answers the questions: Who does what, when?

This requires having the courage to confront the social group that wishes to maintain the current functioning, if necessary. social qui souhaite maintenir le fonctionnement actuel.

Practical implementation of problem solving

Ideally, problem solving is practiced in pairs: the person who has the problem and a person who comes to help them solve it. Here are two possible modalities for implementation:

In writing: One vertically divides a sheet of paper into four boxes 'Problem', 'Analysis', 'Solution', and 'Implementation', and each time the oral exchange related to a stage ends, the person who has the problem writes the result of that exchange in the corresponding box.

Orally: The person who helps uses their hand to indicate the current stage. The raised thumb means we are dealing with what the problem is. The thumb and index finger mean we are dealing with the analysis of the problem. The thumb and two fingers mean we are looking for solutions, and finally the thumb and three fingers mean we are planning the implementation.

Remember well that one only moves to the next stage when both protagonists consider the current stage to be finished. Furthermore, one of the protagonists can ask at any time to return to a previous stage; this is normal and happens frequently.

If there is disagreement at the level of the solution, and if the possible consequences of its implementation remain reasonable, preferably choose the solution of the person who has the problem.

Circumventions to avoid

To avoid the cognitive effort of reasoning and making arbitrary decisions, there are different strategies:

Finally, even in the absence of circumvention, the fourth condition 'not being a victim of beliefs leading to biasing conclusions in good faith' often remains extremely difficult to satisfy. The 'in good faith' is a product of cognitive dissonance. To deal with this, the book From Capital to Reason introduces the notion of strategic valuation.

Deepen

A more advanced version of the problem solving method, which takes into account different personality structures, is proposed in the question 'Tell me how you make decisions and I will tell you who you are'

See the question 'Why do humans reason so massively wrongly?' which details the methodological flaws of human reasoning.

Refer to the question 'What do best practices represent in the world of work?' to understand well in what way best practices are often an obstacle to the production of serious reasoning.

Refer to the question 'The myth of listening and good atmosphere' to understand well how empathy can be subverted.

For a more detailed description of the difficulty in conducting serious reasoning, refer to chapter 4 'The decision process, or the reign of the irrational' of the book From Capital to Reason.

For a more detailed explanation of the notion of strategic valuation, refer to chapters 7 'Transcending the philosophical vision of the Enlightenment', 10 'The journal of strategic reflections' and 11 'Operational control'.

Finally and above all, for a more detailed description of the application of the problem solving method in a group of people, refer to chapter 9 'The problem journal' of the book From Capital to Reason.

Possibly explore on the Internet the concept 'Scale of behaviors' which details the upstream of problem treatment, i.e., makes an inventory of avoidance techniques to avoid recognizing the problem (ignoring, denying, accusing, justifying), then repeats the treatment steps (analyze, imagine) omitting the last one (implement).