Congruent Joy

Evaluating Advice

Advice is, in effect, a logical argument.

“Given A, B, and C, the best thing for you to do is to do X.”

Often though advice isn’t stated as such. Instead, it’s “You should do X.” Or, “X worked for me.”

Which only actually makes sense if the underlying argument is correct.

Are the premises true?

And does the conclusion follow from the premises?

We ask, “Is this is the right advice?”, yet advice can be right by accident.

The right conclusion drawn from a shaky argument.

Such advice may luckily be right in the moment, but it’s fragile. If there are any small changes in circumstances, the advice is unable to adjust.

A stronger question to ask is, “What’s the argument? What makes this the best thing for me to do?”

Do the premises match your situation? And does the conclusion actually follow from those primises?