Limits of Traditional Approaches for Understanding Adult Logical Development

Abstract

In this chapter, I will try to summarize some of the limits of current approaches that in some way describe or address the development of thought and logic in adulthood and old age. I regret that I will not be able to give a thorough overview of specific theories themselves, or even of general types of theories; space does not permit my doing them justice. My main goal in this chapter is to describe the critical gaps in the approaches that exist in order to suggest ways to fill those gaps. My second goal is to give theoretical reasons for the need to create and explore a new theory, namely, my Theory of Postformal Thought.

Consciousness is not reducible to neural events. The meaning of the message will never be found in the chemistry of the ink.

Roger Sperry