Reason

Reason is the capacity of consciously making sense of things, applying logic, and adapting or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans.

Definition and context

Reason, or an aspect of it, is sometimes referred to as rationality. Reasoning is associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect. The philosophical field of logic studies ways in which humans reason formally through argument. Reasoning may be subdivided into forms of logical reasoning (forms associated with the strict sense): deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, abductive reasoning; and other modes of reasoning considered more informal, such as intuitive reasoning and verbal reasoning.

History of reason

The concept of reason is found in the history of philosophy and in all its branches, as well as in the social sciences, such as sociology, psychology, and political science. The pre-Socratics were predominantly concerned with cosmology, ontology and mathematics. They were distinguished from "non-philosophers" insofar as they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse.

Reason in philosophy

In philosophy, reason has been considered along with other concepts not as a philosophical concept, but as a concept that is used in descriptions and explanations of other concepts of philosophical interest. It has been described in different ways by philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Hume, Smith, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas, Deleuze, Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida, Badiou, and Žižek.

Reason in science

In the sciences, the scientific method is used to investigate the world, including social sciences such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political science. Scientists use reason to collect, sort, and analyze empirical data to learn about the world.

See also

• Logic
• Philosophy
• Science
• Mathematics
• Art

References

Reason Resources
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