Reason is a way of thinking characterized by logic, analysis, and synthesis. Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. Analysis (from Greek ἀνάλυσις, "a breaking up" is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a It is often contrasted with emotionalism, which is thinking driven by desire, passion or prejudice. Emotionalism means "an inclination to rely on or place too much value on emotion The word prejudice refers to prejudgment making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case or event Reason attempts to discover what is true or what is best. The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality Philosophic or ethic value is a property of objects, including Physical objects as well as Abstract objects (e Reason often follows a chain of cause and effect, and the word "reason" can be a synynom for "cause". " Cause and Effect " is the 18th episode in the 5th season of Star Trek The Next Generation. Reason has been a major subject of interest since the beginning of philosophy. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language

Discussion about reason especially concerns:

• its origin
• its relationship to other related concepts such as language, logic, and consciousness
• its ability to help people decide what is true

The question of whether or not animals can reason has been a subject of lively debate. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the ^[1]

The concept of reason is closely related to the concept of language, as reflected in the meanings of the Greek word "logos", the root of logic, which translated into Latin became "ratio" and then in French "raison", from which the English word "reason" was derived. The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them grc-Latn Logos (ˈloʊːgɒs ( Greek, logos) is an important term in Philosophy, Analytical psychology, Rhetoric and Religion Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people

Also see practical reason and speculative reason. In Philosophy, practical reason is the use of Reason to decide how to act. Speculative reason or pure reason is theoretical (or Logical deductive) thought (sometimes called theoretical reason as opposed to practical (active

Contents 1 Reason and logic 2 Reason, truth, and “first principles” 3 Reason, language and mimesis 4 Reason and emotion or passion 5 Reason and faith, especially in the “Greater West” 6 References 7 See also

Reason and logic

Reason is a type of thought. Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both Logic is the attempt to make explicit the rules by which reason operates. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. The oldest surviving writing to explicitly and at length consider the rules by which reason operates are the works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, especially Prior Analysis and Posterior Analysis. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ^[2] Although the Ancient Greeks had no separate word for logic as distinct from language and reason, Aristotle's neologism "syllogism" (syllogismos) identified logic clearly for the first time as a distinct field of study. A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been A syllogism, or logical appeal, (συλλογισμός &mdash "conclusion" "inference" (usually the categorical syllogism) is a kind of When Aristotle referred to "the logical" (logos), he was referring more broadly to rational thought.

Reason and logic can be thought of as distinct, although logic is one important aspect of reason. Author Douglas Hofstadter, in Gödel, Escher, Bach, characterizes the distinction in this way. Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15 1945 in New York New York) is an American academic whose research focuses on consciousness thinking and creativity Gödel Escher Bach an Eternal Golden Braid (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize -winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, described Logic is what is done "inside the system" by formal steps such as deduction. Reason is what is done "outside the system" by such informal methods as skipping steps, working backward, drawing diagrams, looking at examples, or seeing what happens if you change the rules of the system. ^[3] In the present day there is an increasing tendency to use the terms interchangeably, or to see logic as the most pure or the defining form of reason. The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also modern times) is the period of history that followed the Middle Ages between c

Neurologist Terrence Deacon, following the tradition of Charles Peirce, has recently given a useful new description of what makes reason distinctive compared to logic, as well as the information processing of computers and at least most animals, in modern terms. Terrence Deacon is an American anthropologist (PhD in Biological Anthropology Harvard University 1984 Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher Information processing is the change (processing of Information in any manner detectable by an observer. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Like many philosophers in the English tradition, such as Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, Peirce starts by distinguishing the type of thinking which is most essential to human reason as a type of associative thinking. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation In Psychology and Marketing, two concepts or stimuli are associated when the experience of one leads to the effects of another due to repeated pairing Reason, by his account, requires associating perceptions with icons. In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. An icon (from Greek εἰκών eikōn, "image" is a religious work of art most commonly a painting from Eastern Christianity. For example, the mind may associate the image (or icon) of smoke with not only the image of fire, but may also associate the word "smoke", or indeed any made-up symbol, with the image of fire. An image (from Latin imago) or picture is an artifact usually two-dimensional that has a similar appearance to some subject &mdashusually An icon (from Greek εἰκών eikōn, "image" is a religious work of art most commonly a painting from Eastern Christianity. An image (from Latin imago) or picture is an artifact usually two-dimensional that has a similar appearance to some subject &mdashusually The musical instrument is spelled Cymbal. A symbol is something --- such as an object, Picture, written word a sound a piece ^[4]

Reason, truth, and “first principles”

In western philosophy, reason has a twofold history. In classical times a conflict developed between the Platonists and the Aristotelians concerning the role of reason in confirming truth. Platonism is the Philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it Aristotelianism is a tradition of Philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality

Both Aristotle and Plato considered this question. On the one hand, people use logic, deduction, and induction to reach conclusions they think are true. Induction or inductive reasoning, sometimes called inductive logic, is the process of Reasoning in which the premises of an argument are believed Conclusions reached in this way are considered more certain than basic sense perceptions. On the other hand, if such reasoned conclusions are only built upon sense perceptions, then our most logical conclusions can never be said to be certain because they are built upon the very same fallible perceptions they seek to better.

This leads to the question of first principles. First Principles is also the title of a work by Herbert Spencer. Empiricism (associated with Aristotle and, more recently, with British philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume) asserts that sensory impressions are primary. In Philosophy, empiricism is a theory of Knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from Experience. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy Idealism, (associated with Plato and his school), claims that there is a "higher" reality, from which certain people can directly arrive at truth without the need of the senses, and that this higher reality is the primary source of truth. In Western civilization, Idealism is the philosophy which maintains that the Ultimate nature of reality is ideal or based upon ideas values essences The so-called

In Greek, “first principles” are arkhai, starting points, and the faculty used to perceive them is sometimes referred to in Aristotle and Plato as “nous” which was close in meaning to “awareness” or “consciousness”. First Principles is also the title of a work by Herbert Spencer. In the ancient Greek philosophy, arche (ἀρχή is the beginning or the first principle of the world Nous (ˈnuːs Greek: or) is a philosophical term for Mind or Intellect. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the

Among those who would argue that reason can not be based upon experience alone, at least two major strands might be discerned. On the one hand, philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Alfarabi, Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, Aquinas and Hegel are sometimes said to have argued that reason must be fixed and discoverable - perhaps by dialectic, analysis, or study. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Farakh al-Fārābi ( Nastaliq:) or Abū Nasr al-Fārābi TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> ( Persian /ابو علی الحسین ابن عبدالله ابن سینا (born Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (Arabicأبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد better known just as Ibn Rushd (ابن رشد and in European Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 – December 13 1204) also known as the Rambam, was a Rabbi, Physician, and In the vision of these thinkers, reason is divine or at least has divine attributes. Such an approach allowed religious philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Étienne Gilson to try to show that reason and revelation are compatible. Étienne Gilson (b Paris June 13, 1884 - September 19, 1978) was a French Thomistic Philosopher and Historian Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication

On the other hand, since the Seventeenth Century rationalists, reason has often been taken to be a subjective faculty, or rather the unaided ability (pure reason) to form concepts. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar For Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, this was associated with significant developments in mathematics. Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, Kant attempted to show that pure reason could form concepts (time and space) that are the conditions of experience. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Kant made his argument in opposition to Hume, who denied that reason had any role to play in experience.

Reason, language and mimesis

The recent writings of Deacon and Donald fit into an older tradition which makes reason connected to language, and mimesis, but more specifically the ability to create language as part of an internal modelling of reality specific to humankind. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Mimesis ( μίμησις from μιμεîσθαι) is a critical and Philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings including A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" Other results are consciousness, and imagination or fantasy. Imagination is the ability to form Mental images/sounds/feelings or the ability to Spontaneously Generate images/sounds/feelings within one's own Mind Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting

Thomas Hobbes describes the creation of “Markes, or Notes of remembrance” (Leviathan Ch. Leviathan or The Matter Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan, is a book written by Thomas 4) as “speech” (allowing by his definition that it is not necessarily a means of communication or speech in the normal sense; he was presumably thinking of "speech" as an English version of "logos" in this description). grc-Latn Logos (ˈloʊːgɒs ( Greek, logos) is an important term in Philosophy, Analytical psychology, Rhetoric and Religion In the context of a language, these marks or notes are called "Signes" by Hobbes. A sign is an entity which signifies another entity A natural sign is an entity which bears a causal relation to the signified entity as thunder is a sign of storm

David Hume, following John Locke (and Berkeley), who followed Hobbes, emphasized the importance of associative thinking. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. George Berkeley (ˈbɑrkli (12 March 1685 14 January 1753 also known as Bishop Berkeley, was a Philosopher.

Concerning mimesis and fantasy being important in defining reason, see for example Aristotle's Poetics, De Anima, On Dreams, and On Memory and Recollection (and for example the Introduction by Michael Davis, printed with the 2002 translation by him and Seth Benardete of the Poetics), Jacob Klein’s A Commentary on the Meno Ch. Aristotle 's Poetics ( Greek: Ποιητικός, c 335 BCE aims to give an account of what he calls 'poetry' (for him the term includes the On the Soul ( Greek ( Perì Psūchês) Latin De Anima) is a major treatise by Aristotle on the nature of living things On Dreams (or "De Insomniis" is a text by Aristotle. On Memory (or "De Memoria et Reminiscentia" is a text by Aristotle. Seth Benardete ( April 4, 1930 - November 14, 2001) was an American classicist and philosopher long a member of the faculties of New York 5, and Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories".

In more recent times, important areas of research include the relationship between reason and language, especially in discussions of origin of language. The origin of language ( glottogony) is a topic that has attracted considerable speculation throughout human history Modern proponents of a priori reasoning, at least with regards to language, include Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, to whom Merlin Donald and Terrence Deacon can be usefully contrasted. "A priori" redirects here For other uses see A priori. Avram Noam Chomsky (noʊm ˈtʃɑmski born December 7 1928 is an American linguist, Philosopher, cognitive scientist, Political Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18 1954 is a prominent Canadian - American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author Merlin Wilfred Donald (born November 17, 1939) is a Canadian psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, and a researcher Terrence Deacon is an American anthropologist (PhD in Biological Anthropology Harvard University 1984

Reason and emotion or passion

In western literature, reason is often opposed to emotions or feelings -- desires, fears, hates, drives, or passions. Western literature refers to the Literature of the Indo-European languages, as well as several languages geographically or historically related to the Indo-European An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Even in everyday speech, westerners tend to say for example that their passions made them behave contrary to reason, or that their reason kept the passions under control. Many writers, such as Nikos Kazantzakis, extol passion and disparage reason. Nikos Kazantzakis ( Νίκος Καζαντζάκης) ( February 18, 1883, Heraklion, Crete, Ottoman Empire -

It is also common, particularly since Freud, to describe reason as the servant of the passions - the means of sorting out our desires and then getting what we want, or perhaps even the slave of the passions - allowing us to pretend to reason to the object of our desire. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Such feigned reason is called "rationalization".

Philosophers such as Plato, Rousseau, Hume, and Nietzsche have combined both views - making rational thinking not only a tool of desires, but also something privileged within the spectrum of desires, being itself desired, and not only because of its usefulness in satisfying other desires. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist

Modern psychology has much to say on the role of emotions in belief formation. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Deeper philosophical questions about the relation between belief and reality are studied in the field of epistemology, which forms part of the philosophical basis of science, a branch of human activity that specifically aims to determine (certain types of) truth by methods that avoid dependence on the emotions of the researchers. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality

Reason and faith, especially in the “Greater West”

In theology, reason, as distinguished from faith, is the human critical faculty exercised upon religious truth whether by way of discovery or by way of explanation. Faith and rationality are two modes of Belief that exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in Some commentators have claimed that Western civilization can be almost defined by its serious testing of the limits of tension between “unaided” reason and faith in "revealed" truths - figuratively summarised as Athens and Jerusalem, respectively. Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Leo Strauss spoke of a "Greater West" which included all areas under the influence of the tension between Greek rationalism and Abrahamic revelation, including the Muslim lands. Leo Strauss (September 20 1899 &ndash October 18 1973 was a German -born Jewish-American political philosopher who specialized in the study of classical The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion He was particularly influenced by the great Muslim philosopher Al-Farabi. Islamic philosophy is a branch of Islamic studies, and is a longstanding attempt to create harmony between Philosophy ( Reason) and the religious teachings TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Farakh al-Fārābi ( Nastaliq:) or Abū Nasr al-Fārābi In order to consider to what extent Eastern philosophy might have partaken of these important tensions, it is perhaps best to consider whether dharma or tao may be equivalent to Nature (by which we mean physis in Greek). Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Persian The Sanskrit term ( Devanāgarī: धर्म Pali transliteration dhamma) is an Indian spiritual and religious Tao ( 道, Pinyin Dào) is a metaphysical concept found in Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally in ancient Chinese philosophy Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. Physis (grc φύσις is a Greek theological, philosophical, and scientific term usually translated into English as " Nature "

The limits within which reason may be used have been laid down differently in different churches and periods of thought: on the whole, modern religion tends to allow to reason a wide field, reserving, however, as the sphere of faith the ultimate (supernatural) truths of theology. The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events

References

See also

• Conscience
• Consciousness
• Deism
• Empiricism
• Epistemology
• Fideism
• Fantasy
• Foucault/Habermas debate
• Inquiry
• Logic
• Language
• Mimesis
• Mind
• Nous
• Rationality
• Reasoning

Conscience is a hypothesized Ability or faculty that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation In Philosophy, empiricism is a theory of Knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from Experience. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Fideism is the view that Religious belief relies primarily on Faith or Special revelation, rather than rational inference or observation Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting The Foucault/Habermas debate is a dispute concerning whether Michel Foucault 's ideas of "power analytics" and "genealogy" or Jürgen Habermas 's Inquiry or enquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting Knowledge, resolving Doubt, or solving a Problem. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Mimesis ( μίμησις from μιμεîσθαι) is a critical and Philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings including MIND ( Moving In New Directions) (est 1975 is an alternative education high school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Nous (ˈnuːs Greek: or) is a philosophical term for Mind or Intellect. Rationality as a term is related to the idea of Reason, a word which following Webster's may be derived as much from older terms referring to Reasoning is the cognitive process of looking for Reasons for beliefs conclusions actions or feelings

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