Reasoned

''Reason'' is a term used in Philosophy and other human sciences to refer to the higher Cognitive faculties of the Human Mind . It describes a type of Thought or aspect of Thought , especially Abstract thought, and the ability to think abstractly, which is felt to be especially human. The concept of reason is connected to Language , as reflected in the meanings of the Greek word " Logos ", later to be translated by Latin "ratio" and then French "raison", from which the English word derived. Reason is thus a very important word in Western Intellectual History and shares much of its heritage with the now separate words Logic and Rationality .

REASON AND LOGIC

There is much disagreement between philosophical schools about the nature and function of reason. The debate about the relationship of reason to Logic extends back to the time of Plato and Aristotle . Plato made a distinction between reason and logic, whereas for Aristotle and his followers, the terms were essentially Synonymous (see Reasoning .) The debate between these two viewpoints has continued down through the ages. Heinrich Heine , in ''On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany'', wrote: "Plato and Aristotle! These are not merely two systems, but rather two types of human nature, that stand, since time immemorial, in hostile opposition. Across the entire middle ages, to the greatest degree, and up to the present day, this battle was waged, and this battle is the essential content of Christian church history. Plato and Aristotle are always the issue, though other names may be used."

The conflict between the Platonists and the Aristoteleans centers on the question of how to search for truth; the Platonists insist that it is found in the world of ideas, while the Aristoteleans insist that it must be ''deduced'' or ''induced'' from the experience of the senses (the Renaissance painter Raphael depicted this conflict in his painting, '' The School Of Athens ''.) For the Platonists , reason is the "the faculty of first truths" (see Platonic Realism .) In the Aristotelean or neo-Aristotelean camp, reason is narrowly defined as the faculty or process of drawing Logic al Inference s; such types of reasoning have traditionally been classified as either '' Deductive Reasoning '', meaning "from the general to the particular", or '' Inductive Reasoning '', meaning "from the particular to the general" (in the 19th Century , Charles Peirce , an American philosopher, named a third classification related to the second, '' Abductive Reasoning '', by which he meant to include guessing or Hypothesising . In modern usage, "inductive reasoning" sometimes includes almost all non-deductive reasoning, including what Peirce would call "abductive". ''See also Logic , Term Logic .'')

These two conflicting conceptions of reason will be addressed in more detail below (see Reason Vs. Logic and Reason As Logic .) In 20th century philosophy handbooks, Rationalists believe reason has an ability to intuitively apprehend fundamental truths, while Empiricists deny the existence of such a faculty and emphasise the importance of experience in building up a mental picture of what is true.

The question of reason as the "faculty of first truths" is related to the topic of Metaphysics , and in modern history there has been an ongoing debate between the proponents of metaphysics, and the Empiricists such as David Hume , who deny the existence of a "faculty of first truths," and argue that all we know of the universe is gleaned from the application of logic to sensory data (the Platonists, in turn, argue that sensory information provides only imprecise reflections or "shadows" of reality, as in Plato's Allegory Of The Cave , or reality as seen "through a glass darkly.") Bertrand Russell embarked on an ambitious project to produce a system of science that was completely devoid of metaphysics.

Reason vs. Logic

The 1913 edition of Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary defines ''Reason'' as:

The faculty or capacity of the human mind by which it is distinguished from the Intelligence of the inferior animals; the higher as distinguished from the lower cognitive faculties, Sense , Imagination , and Memory , and in contrast to the Feeling s and Desire s. Reason comprises conception, Judgment , reasoning, and the Intuitional faculty. Specifically, it is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first Truth s, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty.

This definition may be said to reflect the Platonic outlook, in that it refers to reason as "the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty."

Plato made a distinction between ''logic'', i.e. reasoning that proceeds via Syllogism from a premise (which Plato calls ''understanding'',) and ''reason'', in this passage, part of what is sometimes referred to as The Divided Line :

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