Water Logic
by Edward de Bono
'Sad to think how much harm has been caused by the brutal arrogance of rock logic' - Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Prize, Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. This quote was made casually in a personal letter to me. I asked Professor Herschbach if I could use it as a quote because it embraces so much in a simple sentence.
Rock is hard, unchanging and unyielding. A rock is of a definite shape. Water is gentler. Water is soft and yielding.
A rock can be used for attack and if attacked it is hard and solid. If you attack water it offers no resistance but then engulfs or drowns the attacker.
If you place a rock on a surface it sits there. A rock 'is'. If you pour water on to a flat surface it spreads out and 'explores'. If there is the slightest incline water 'flows'.
A rock does not change its shape depending on the surrounding circumstances. Water has no shape but adjusts to the container. A truth is very often a truth only in a certain context. Water logic emphasizes the importance of context.
If you have a lump of rock in a glass and tilt the glass the rock will eventually fall out. The rock is either in the glass or out of the glass. With water you can lose some water from the glass and still keep some in the glass - it does not have to be either/or.
If you add a rock to another rock you get two rocks. If you add water to water you do not get two waters. The new water combines with the old to give water. This additive aspect of water logic is very similar to the fuzzy logic that is now becoming so useful in artificial intelligence. Perceptions add up to a whole as in poetry.
Rock logic is often concerned with 'but' as we show how things differ. Water logic is more concerned with 'and' as we show how the inputs add up to a whole.
Western argument is very much based on the clash of rock logic. Japanese discussion is more based on the adding of further layers as in water logic.
All the above give an impression of the difference between rock logic and water logic. The simplest way to summarize it is to say that rock logic is based in 'is' and water logic is based on 'to' - What does this flow to? What does this lead to? What does this add up to?
Traditional rock logic is based on identity: 'This is a caterpillar.' It is also based on 'have' and 'inclusion': 'This caterpillar is green and has a hairy body.' Inclusion, exclusion, identity and non-identity, and contradiction are the very stuff of reasoning. We creat boxes in the forms of categories, classifications and words. We judge whether something belongs in a certain box and if it does we can give it all the characteristics of that box. This is the basis of our judgement and our certainty and it serves us well even though it can lead to 'brutal arrogance'.
In place of this 'is' of rock logic we put the 'to' of water logic.
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Passage taken from: Water Logic by Edward de Bono, ISBN 0-14-023075-0 Copyright ? McQuaig Group Inc., 1993
by Edward de Bono
'Sad to think how much harm has been caused by the brutal arrogance of rock logic' - Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Prize, Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. This quote was made casually in a personal letter to me. I asked Professor Herschbach if I could use it as a quote because it embraces so much in a simple sentence.
Rock is hard, unchanging and unyielding. A rock is of a definite shape. Water is gentler. Water is soft and yielding.
A rock can be used for attack and if attacked it is hard and solid. If you attack water it offers no resistance but then engulfs or drowns the attacker.
If you place a rock on a surface it sits there. A rock 'is'. If you pour water on to a flat surface it spreads out and 'explores'. If there is the slightest incline water 'flows'.
A rock does not change its shape depending on the surrounding circumstances. Water has no shape but adjusts to the container. A truth is very often a truth only in a certain context. Water logic emphasizes the importance of context.
If you have a lump of rock in a glass and tilt the glass the rock will eventually fall out. The rock is either in the glass or out of the glass. With water you can lose some water from the glass and still keep some in the glass - it does not have to be either/or.
If you add a rock to another rock you get two rocks. If you add water to water you do not get two waters. The new water combines with the old to give water. This additive aspect of water logic is very similar to the fuzzy logic that is now becoming so useful in artificial intelligence. Perceptions add up to a whole as in poetry.
Rock logic is often concerned with 'but' as we show how things differ. Water logic is more concerned with 'and' as we show how the inputs add up to a whole.
Western argument is very much based on the clash of rock logic. Japanese discussion is more based on the adding of further layers as in water logic.
All the above give an impression of the difference between rock logic and water logic. The simplest way to summarize it is to say that rock logic is based in 'is' and water logic is based on 'to' - What does this flow to? What does this lead to? What does this add up to?
Traditional rock logic is based on identity: 'This is a caterpillar.' It is also based on 'have' and 'inclusion': 'This caterpillar is green and has a hairy body.' Inclusion, exclusion, identity and non-identity, and contradiction are the very stuff of reasoning. We creat boxes in the forms of categories, classifications and words. We judge whether something belongs in a certain box and if it does we can give it all the characteristics of that box. This is the basis of our judgement and our certainty and it serves us well even though it can lead to 'brutal arrogance'.
In place of this 'is' of rock logic we put the 'to' of water logic.
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Passage taken from: Water Logic by Edward de Bono, ISBN 0-14-023075-0 Copyright ? McQuaig Group Inc., 1993
