# Links [[thinking]] [[Thinking as a Science]] # Learning Loops The organizational theorist, Chris Argyris, coined the terms single-loop and double-loop learning. Single loop learners take action based on a given assumption. If they get the results, they want they take it as confirmation that they used a valid assumption. (Students of deductive logic know that a valid conclusion does not prove the validity of the starting premise.) If the actor gets an unacceptable result, he assumes the flaw occurred in his execution; he does not question the starting assumption. Argyris pointed out the need for double-loop learning, i.e., testing the validity of beginning assumptions. When an actor does not get his desired result, he needs to reexamine his starting assumptions. One might argue that Copernicus, Einstein, and many others like them engaged in double-loop learning. They made breakthroughs because they reexamined their original assumptions.