The word reason names that faculty that we human beings have and by which we can think and reflect about things. That is to say, it is thanks to reason that individuals we elaborate and identify the concepts and, for this purpose, certain actions are deployed, such as questioning, contradiction or finding coherences and inconsistencies in them, or the deduction of other concepts.
The human being has a faculty that distinguishes him from any other living being, reason. It is a faculty that allows us to understand reality. However, there is no single mode of reason.
Distinction of the forms of analysis that lead us to reflection
But in order to carry out its function, reason is based on and moved by logical principles that are conceived to be true, such as: identity principle (which makes it evident that such a concept is that concept and not another), principle of non-contradiction (implies that a concept cannot be and be at the same time) and principle of the excluded middle (This assumes that between the “being” and the “not being” of an idea there can be no possibility of an intermediate situation).
Meanwhile, when we reason we can find two types of reasoning, the inductivewhich is the one who achieves a general conclusion of particular issues and the deductive which holds that the conclusion of something is embedded in its premises.
Our reason is capable of constructing abstract ideas
By observing kind behaviors we create the idea of kindness and by realizing that there are shapes with a triangular appearance, we form the notion of triangle. This type of reason is abstract.
We mentally perform a series of intellectual operations. Thus, we classify things in groups, we distinguish realities or we make deductions from the understanding. This type of reason is analytical.
The intellect perceives that certain phenomena are in a process of constant change (for example, historical events). On the other hand, there are circumstances in which ideas flow as if they were in a process of transformation (for example, I defend thesis A, my friend defends thesis B and we both reach a third conclusion or thesis C). This type of reason is dialectical.
Some philosophers have wondered what the limits of human reason are. In this sense, Immanuel Kant asked a question about human knowledge: what can I know? His answer to this question is based on an analysis of reason and its limits. This type of reason is known as critical reason.
The idea of reason has been analyzed from all kinds of philosophical approaches
For Wittgenstein the idea of reason must be understood in relation to two different realities, language and the world.
For Freud, below the rational mind there is an unconscious mind with its own dynamics.
For Leibniz everything that exists obeys a motive or sufficient reason. In other words, the things around us don’t just happen.
According to rationalist philosophers, human reason has its own foundations apart from experience. On the other hand, empiricist philosophers maintain that rationality is based on what we can observe (for example, Hume affirms that our reasoning can only be based on the analogies that we observe in real events).
Expanding the horizons about the application of the term, in specific fields and contexts
Apart from the philosophical debate, we talk about reason in many ways. Thus, we want to know the motives or reasons that drive us to act, we say that someone is in full use of reason or that a person does not listen to reasons.
The argument offered in favor of a topic (He gave us a very poor reason before our query for the reason for his resignation); the reason for something (the distance from his home caused his decision not to attend the course anymore), success in the action and thought of another (Mario is right to be angry with you).
On the other hand, in the field of mathematicsit’s called reason the quotient of two numerical quantities or of two quantities that are plausible to be compared with each other. For example, the ratio of 9/3 is 3.
However, we can also find the word contained in some popular concepts and expressions such as: reason of state (it is that rule of action in certain political circumstances and that is motivated by the common interest of the nation), business name (it is the name of a commercial company and that is why it is known in commercial terms, it may not be the brand name), attend reasons (when someone convinces another with their arguments), give the reason (acknowledgment to the other who is saying or doing the right thing), enter reason (to reasonably accept something) and to loose your mind (when he goes crazy).
Photos 2/3: Fotolia – Ramona Heim / Kopenicker
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