The art of thinking
Philosophy, reasoning and mental models
A separate pool of glossaries for philosophy, the art of thinking and reasoning, mental models and the cognitive psychology of information use — where methods come from and how they were adapted, from Socrates and Aristotle via Euclid and Descartes to John Boyd, Elon Musk and Charlie Munger, and what research on attention, memory, comprehension and error says about how people think with information. It is kept apart from the regulatory, norms and engineering glossaries on purpose: these entries explain ways of thinking, not requirements. Where a method is also an established tool of documentation, analysis or quality work — the five whys, the mental model of a user — it lives in the reference glossaries and is linked from here.
The regulation, norms and engineering glossariesPhilosophy, reasoning and mental models glossary
11 terms
Definitions of the methods of thinking and reasoning and where they come from — Aristotle’s first principles and Socrates’ questioning, the axiomatic method, analysis and synthesis, Descartes’ method, first principles thinking and its adaptations in physics, strategy and engineering (first-principles calculations, John Boyd’s destruction and creation, the contrast with reasoning by analogy), and mental models as thinking tools up to Charlie Munger’s latticework. Each entry names its origin and shows what the method looks like in practice; none of them is a norm or a requirement.
Thinking modelsPhilosophyProblem solvingMathematicsEngineeringPhysicsStrategy- First principle (philosophy)
- Socratic questioning
- Axiomatic method
- Analysis and synthesis (method)
- Cartesian method
- First principles thinking
- First-principles calculation
- Destruction and creation (John Boyd)
- Reasoning by analogy
- Mental model (thinking tool)
- Latticework of mental models
Shared with documentation and analysis practice
Some thinking methods are also established tools of technical documentation, analysis or quality work. They stay in the reference glossaries, where they are defined for that practice, and the entries here link to them.
- Five whys · Technical documentation and information design glossary
- Assumption (systems engineering) · Functional safety and systems engineering glossary
- Mental model · Technical documentation and information design glossary
Context cards
Context cards of the art of thinking
Short, self-contained explanations of where a way of thinking comes from and how it works. They are kept apart from the context cards on regulation, norms and engineering. Transitional cards bridge the two: they show how a way of thinking was adapted into documentation practice, so they sit with the other context cards and are marked as transitional there.
Transitional topics Sits with the context cards
Context cardTransitional topic
Cognitive load and split attention: why figures, labels and text belong together
What does cognitive load theory say about combining figures and text in instructions, and what follows for technical documentation?
Cognitive load theory: separating figure and text that belong together costs working memory. Put labels on the figure and text next to what it explains.
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Mental models and concept information: why readers need to know how it works before they act
How does research on mental models support placing concept information before task information in technical documentation?
Readers act on a mental model built from the system image, documentation included. Concept information before tasks helps them predict and recover.
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Human error types and troubleshooting: from slips, lapses and mistakes to recovery information
How do the error types of James Reason and Jens Rasmussen's skill-, rule- and knowledge-based behavior help design troubleshooting and recovery information?
Slips, lapses and mistakes need different help: design against slips, checklists against lapses, symptom-cause-remedy tables and system models for mistakes.
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Cognitive psychology in technical communication: theory, application and the bridges between them
What is the difference between cognitive psychology as theory and its application in documentation, and how do the two fit together?
Theory describes how readers perceive, remember and decide; application turns it into documentation practice. Bridges make each step visible and checkable.
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Attention and warning placement: from selective attention and habituation to where warnings go
What does research on attention and warnings say about where and how warnings should be placed in instructions?
A warning works only if noticed, read, understood and acted on. Place it right before the step with the hazard, and keep warnings rare enough to stay seen.
Read the cardContext cardTransitional topic
Working memory and procedure steps: why "seven plus or minus two" is the wrong rule
Does working memory research justify a fixed maximum number of steps in a procedure, such as seven plus or minus two?
Miller's 1956 paper set no step limit; Cowan puts working memory at about four chunks. Steps stay on the page, so design each step, not the step count.
Read the cardContext cardTransitional topic
How first principles thinking evolved: an adaptation of many adaptations
Where does first principles thinking come from, and how has it changed on its way to technical writing?
First principles thinking runs from Aristotle via Euclid, Descartes, Boyd and Musk to mental models; its version for technical writers is one more adaptation.
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How to read this pool
Entries, context cards and transitional topics
The art of thinking explains ways of thinking — where a method comes from, what it asks of you and how it was adapted later. You meet four kinds of content here, each with its own job:
- Glossary entry
- Defines one concept or method of thinking: its origin, an example and how it relates to neighboring ideas. “X vs. Y” sections set two methods side by side.
- Context card of the art of thinking
- A short, self-contained answer to one question about a way of thinking — its lineage, its steps, its limits. These cards are listed on The art of thinking only.
- Transitional topicBridges both pools
- A context card that bridges both pools: it shows how a way of thinking was adapted into documentation, analysis or quality practice. It sits with the reference context cards and is marked as transitional wherever it appears.
- Reference entry or context card
- Belongs to the Glossary & Norms Space on regulation, norms and engineering. Entries here link to one only where a method is also an established tool of documentation or quality work, such as the five whys or a user’s mental model.
Definitions follow the cited philosophical and historical sources — primary texts, their standard translations and reference works such as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — and, for cognitive psychology, the published research and its reviews, with the state of the evidence named in each entry. They are paraphrased, not quoted, unless a passage is marked as a quotation, and sayings that cannot be traced to a source stay attributed. Examples, comparisons and the notes on how a method was adapted are editorial commentary by knowledge.aitechdoc.world. None of these entries is a norm, a standard or a legal requirement, and applying one never replaces a method that a standard or a law requires.