Hi Jeff: You are observing that "something about writing it down makes me think along extra lines of thought." I would like to add another observation, mainly because the link is obvious, but (still) not well understood: the acceptance of logical rules of inference (modus ponens, say) is closely related to literacy. There's quite a body of research out there now showing that illiterate people are not willing, or unable to accept formal rules of inference, research which is adumbrated by the fact the the first formalization of logic, Aristoteles,' was more or less concomitant with the introduction of literacy to Greek society (Socrates, for example, was still illiterate, (although he knew how to use logic well)). A principal researcher in this field is Philip Johnson-Laird of Princeton http://psych.princeton.edu/psychology/research/johnson_laird/index.php By the way, have a look at my blog: http://morefreedomfries.blogspot.ch/2012/09/freedom-fries-introduction.html#more Cheers...