Good reasoning can lead to success; bad reasoning can lead to catastrophe. Yet, it's not obvious how we reason, and why we make mistakes. This book by one of the pioneers of the field looks at the mental processes that underlie our reasoning. It provides the most accessible account yet of the science of reasoning. Good reasoning can lead to success; bad reasoning can lead to catastrophe. Yet, it's not obvious how we reason, and why we make mistakes. This new book by one of the pioneers of the field, Philip Johnson-Laird, looks at the mental processes that underlie our reasoning. It provides the most accessible account yet of the science of reasoning. Introduction 1(20) Part I The World in Our Conscious Minds Icons and Images 21(17) Models of Possibilities: From Conjuring Tricks to Disasters 38(13) Part II The World in Our Unconscious Minds Mental Architecture and the Unconscious 51(9) Intuitions and Unconscious Reasoning 60(13) Emotions as Inferences 73(16) Reasoning in Psychological Illnesses 89(16) Part III How We Make Deductions Only Connections 105(14) I'm my own Grandpa: Reasoning About Identities and Other Relations 119(17) Syllogisms and Reasoning about Properties 136(17) Isn't Everyone an Optimist? The Case of Complex Reasoning 153(12) Part IV How We Make Inductions Modulation: A Step Towards Induction 165(9) Knowledge and Inductions 174(11) Sherlock Holmes's Method: Abduction 185(12) The Balance of Probabilities 197(16) Part V What Makes us Rational Counterexamples 213(18) Truths, Lies, and the Higher Reasoning 231(16) Part VI How We Develop Our Ability to Reason On Development 247(15) Strategies and Cultures 262(17) How We can Improve our Reasoning 279(16) Part VII Knowledge, Beliefs, and Problems The Puzzles of If 295(16) Causes and Obligations 311(21) Beliefs, Heresies, and Changes in Mind 332(18) How we Solve Problems 350(19) Part VIII Expert Reasoning in Technology, Logic, and Science Flying Bicycles: How the Wright Brothers Invented the Airplane 369(18) Unwrapping an Enigma 387(15) On the Mode of the Communication of Cholera 402(12) How we Reason 414(10) Glossary 424(7) Notes on the Chapters 431(63) Acknowledgements 494(3) References 497(48) Name Index 545(12) Subject Index 557