Why is it important ?

An experience we have has little meaning if it remains entirely unconscious. In fact, many of our questions, needs and problems in life are concerned with the consciousnessof ourselves or others: especially, how to get it in a desired state, e.g. a state that is comfortable, in touch with relevant issues and ready for actions at hand. We can therefore assume that insights in the characteristics and workings of consciousness are of great importance in almost all areas of human activity. This hardly seems a problem; after all, consciousness - taken in the 'literal' sense, that is, the everyday 'being conscious', or having subjective awareness, or taking conscious notice, of whatever we may experience subjectively - is the one and only thing we know by which we know all things we know that we know ..
However, in spite of its seemingly trivial character, the phenomenon of consciousnessis still a profound mystery in many ways. It can not be directly observed in physical phenomena nor can it's presence be demonstrated through experimental procedures, or can it's existence be decisively derived by logical inference. It therefore really has no place in Western science up to this day, which is after all still essentially - and only - materialistic, physicalistic and functionalistic. Especially in psychology consciousness represents a troublesome concept. What remains as a logical consequence of this restriction is a concept of man that can not go beyond the levels of some sort of automaton, a computer within living matter, a 'biorobot' - in fact, a zombie. From this perspective, human beings, as well as other living creatures, cannot have any kind of intrinsic valuewhatsoever. They can only have marketvalue based upon some instrumental utility, like serving as a means for production, commerce and consumption. This market value can solely be dependent of extrinsic variables like supply and demand (that are always higly accidental). This is exactly of course the way both humans and animals are considered and treaten in modern or postmodern industrialized 'free market' economy.

There obviously are some serious problems with that picture. It excludes many concepts and values that go beyond the purely physical or formal phenomena, and that we usually consider to be essential for a somewhat humane society: like having physical and emotional feelings and understanding that others have them, and many other interpersonal experiences, skills and abilities like involvement with others, and empathy. But also, consciousness is a necessary precondition of 'conscious choice', or a 'free will' and thus for reasonable levels of self-control, responsible behavior, accountability, and the ability we call 'conscience' (or some form of sincere inner morality for that matter). These faculties we may consider indispensible for living in a civil society.

Thus we may conclude that a realistic image of humans has to include a capacity for true subjective consciousness as a vital and crucial part of our being. First of all, because it concerns, as said before, our everyday waking state of consciousness by which we have any idea or awareness of anything, anywhere, in any case. Moreover, concsiousness embodies the miraculous power that is the necessary condition for the essentials in life, such as quality of experience, appraisal of what we observe, feel or know, and motivation for all our acts and efforts. Taken further, consciousness is the foundation of value, love and beauty - and the core of spiritual experience. It is therefore important to take a closer look at the grounds and whereabouts of this fascinating phenomenon. Then it appears that subjective consciousness is not that 'vague' as a phenomenon as it is sometimes considered.

Why is it important ?

The importance of logic is directly connected with that of information. As long as we live we make a use of information. For a large part this is because of it's immediate experiential value, for amusement and sensation, like stories and anecdotes, jokes and rumours, etc. .. At the same time, information can offer us guidelines for our choices and actions. Because of this, information has profound effects on the functioning, communication and interaction of people and cultures. For some information it may therefore be useful, or even of vital importance, that it is solid and reliable. The latter requires that data are thoroughly groundedon facts and accordant with relations in reality. In short, quality of information is intimately connected with it's degree of truth value. Logicoffers the rules and guidelines to be able to decide about truth relations between information elements: the ordering relations that determine the truth values of distinct data.

Summary

As soon as we may discern some ordering of data, information is present, and where there is information, logic can be applied to it. In reverse, chaos and confusion - or, disinformation - may lead to problems that can be clarified with help of logic. There is, for instance, the information overload that we are faced with every day, through the media and internet, which the power of logic can help us to filter and to process.
At all times the logical laws are independent of the contents of the data, the subject, the domain or the 'kind' of reality. Logic clarifies the possibilities and restrictions of human judgement, in the most exact way we can think of. It determines the boundaries of any kind of science .. including itself! In fact, logic is the most exact of all sciences. Because of this, logical knowledge preceeds any kind of other knowledge. Moreover, the logical regularities compensate for the numeous ways in which the human mind may deceive itself with illusions and fallacies. Because of this, knowledge of logic is the start of understanding facts and their connections in any area.

Why is it important?

Information is meant to offer clarification, so it would be useful that the term "information" be at least clear. In this article a step-by-step investigation is done after the most important forms or kinds in which information can emerge and what their discriminating features are. It appears that different kinds of information have characteristics that are unique, by which they can be classified in several sharply marked out dimensions.

Summary(of the summary):

Among the most well-known concepts of information four maintypes can be discerned: information as physical structure, as abstract structure, as subjective (mental) content and as conscious (subjective, mental) content. With respect to these four basic concepts the question is examined whether they offer a necessary and useful contribution to information-processing and communication. The conclusion is that the concept of information indeed has a valuable, independent function, as long as we discriminate it from purely physical ordering, and take it as ordering of conscious experience. Within this structure, abstract patterns are to be classified as mental constructions. The subjective contents can have a certain degree of 'informational value': and thus, a degree of objectivy.

Why is it important ?

Analysis and assessment concerning problems and objectives of people are often hampered by a high degree of complexity, an immense amount of combinatory possibilities and interactions of very divers factors. It may be quite hard to avoid an approach that would be one-sided, colored, biased or partial ('tunnel vision', 'blind spots', and the like).
The expert-system'List-Sys' ^© has been designed to make analysis of data from tests and observations more complete, faster and more reliable.
The program produces a variety of reports, containing a.o. personality profile, strengths-weaknesses analysis, prognosis, competencies for tasks and jobs, and presents advies voor careers, education, reintegration, training or therapy. The system is now available in a Dutch and an English version. It is applicable on any domain of knowledge and information, and so far has been equipped with a knowledge base suited for psychological purposes.

Why is it important ?

Such a method is of crucial importance everytime we want to apply cause-effectinference: to understand events in the world, or to realise results. This is especially relevant in practical settingsthat are complex, dynamical or chaotic, and were sample research is not an option because it is too cumbersome and time-consuming, or not provides the information needed.

Summary

'Beneath' methods and techniques of explanatory statistics appears to imply a model for causal determination/attribution. This model can be translated into logical rules, and further be expanded and refined with help of logical principles so that it becomes suitable for applications in practical situations, were sample research or complex statistical data-analysis and testing are not feasible. Furthermore, this logical model for causal analysis offers the handles and tools needed for translating statistical data to relations of meaning, verbal descriptions, theory building and practical applications - and vice versa.