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The Tools

Hardly Thinking applies thirty practical reasoning tools, grouped into six families, to examine how claims are made, tested, defended, and sold, from the biases that shape what we notice to the words that shape what we’re able to say. If the grammars explain why a conclusion feels right, the tools are how we check whether it is, and every tool can be turned into a weapon by someone more interested in winning than understanding.

The six families follow the path a claim takes through your head:

  • A. Bias Literacy: errors that happen before reasoning starts.
  • B. Inference Discipline: errors in the step from evidence to conclusion.
  • C. Testing and Calibration: proportioning belief to evidence.
  • D. Influence Defense: recognizing the engineering behind persuasion.
  • E. Language Precision: language as power, handled carefully.
  • F. Discourse Practice: disagreement as a skill.

For the recurring patterns these tools work against, see the Grammars.

Four tools work against every grammar:

A. Bias Literacy

Errors that happen before reasoning starts.

B. Inference Discipline

Errors in the step from evidence to conclusion.

C. Testing and Calibration

Proportioning belief to evidence.

D. Influence Defense

Recognizing the engineering behind persuasion.

E. Language Precision

Language as power, handled carefully.

F. Discourse Practice

Disagreement as a skill.

The map

Which tools work best against which grammars. Every tool can be used anywhere; the map shows where each one does the most work.

● a first-line tool for that grammar ○ a supporting tool ◆ used against that grammar in a published article ★ works against every grammar

ToolAllG1G2G3G4G5G6G7G8G9G10G11G12
A. Bias Literacy
A1 Invisible-Cases Question●●
A2 Denominator Demand●●
A3 Newsfeed Inversion○○
A4 Mirror Check★○●
A5 Situation Swap
B. Inference Discipline
B1 Effect-Size Reflex●
B2 Continuum Restore●
B3 Trade-off Surfacing●●○
B4 Reference-Class Question●●
B5 Fallacy-Fallacy Guard○
C. Testing and Calibration
C1 Falsifier Question●
C2 Steelman Protocol★●
C3 Consensus Audit●
C4 Prediction Ledger○●
C5 Cynicism Firewall○●
D. Influence Defense
D1 Incentive Trace●
D2 Rage Audit○
D3 Motte-and-Bailey Marker○
D4 JAQ Detector○
D5 Thought-Terminator Catalog
E. Language Precision
E1 Taboo-the-Word Move○●
E2 Operationalization Demand●
E3 Euphemism X-Ray●
E4 Creep Gauge○○
E5 Precision Covenant★
F. Discourse Practice
F1 Crux Finder●○●
F2 Standing/Soundness Split●○
F3 Charity-with-Audit Protocol●
F4 Scout Report★
F5 Exit Ramp○