From the site: “The Reason! Project is developing a new method for improving reasoning skills. The method is centred on the Reason! software learning environment.”
This page is a truly lovely list of resources.
Following up on the project’s principal (Tim van Gelder), I found this short but sweet list of quotes concerning philosophy as well as a link to AusThink, where he’s again principal. That site hosts his “Critical Thinking On The Web” (“A directory of links to online critical thinking resources.”)
Text from AusThink’s ”About”:
“Austhink was created in part to help bridge the gap between academic knowledge and the urgent demands of the everyday world for better thinking. […]Austhink’s focus is intelligence augmentation, as defined by Douglas Englebart:
“By ‘augmenting human intellect’ we mean increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems. Increased capability in this respect is taken to mean a mixture of the following: more-rapid comprehension, better comprehension, the possibility of gaining a useful degree of comprehension in a situation that previously was too complex, speedier solutions, better solutions, and the possibility of finding solutions to problems that before seemed insoluble…
And by “complex situations” we include the professional problems of diplomats, executives, social scientists, life scientists, physical scientists, attorneys, designers—whether the problem situation exists for twenty minutes or twenty years. […] We refer to a way of life in an integrated domain where hunches, cut-and-try, intangibles, and the human “feel for a situation” usefully co-exist with powerful concepts, streamlined terminology and notation, sophisticated methods, and high-powered electronic aids.”
I see from AusThink’s page on argument mapping that the thinking behind GNodal and G-Node is not off track! 🙂