What does it actually mean to "reason" and to think "logically"?

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Jesse Akers on January 16, 2008, 10:52 AM

reason
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reason[1,noun]reason[2,verb]age of reasonrhyme or reason

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Derek Pritchard on January 16, 2008, 4:21 PM

Reason is a characteristic of the human race. Reason is one of the few characteristics derived by man to increase survival rates. If an example is what your looking for i guess i could attempt to state one. With the prerequisite complex of language at hand you could try and picture two humans communicating and trying to “reason” with the other human by means of *convincing him of something such as weapons or travel. Convincing him not to take the short cut and die, in contrast to taking the long road and live, you would have to convince the human using reasoning. To force him to expel more effort you better have efficient intelligence in a means of “reasoning”. As if giving a sense of rationality and communication even in a sense of similar intelligence quotient. or I.Q. Would you reason with a baby and an adult in the same manner? Probably not. You use “reason” of the complex derived memory to communicate in a sense of similar comprehension, therefore getting your “point” or of the such, accross as quickly and efficiently as possible. initially in the progression of survival.

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Jerimiah Booream-Phelps on January 16, 2008, 9:45 PM

If one is participating in the act of “reasoning” I would tend to think of that as more of a debate, whether acknowledged or not, between two or more people. Many people have been “reasoned” into doing things that dont logically make sense. This could be through a series of selective facts presented in such a way as to seem very convincing, or even outright lies; If the other person doesn’t know any better, they could be lied to in such a way that they become convinced of the validity of the false-argument.
With that said, it would seem to me that to think logically is only capable to the extent of the facts that a person knows or thinks to be true. Since no sentient being we are currently aware of has the ability to know everything, the best we can hope for in thinking logically is that we educate yourselves as much as possible about an issue at hand, consider what all of the facts tell us, and link them together in the way that seems to best fit the data.
In the face of conflicting facts or supposed facts, thinking logically is at best an educated guess on our part, with the hopes that our judgement is enough to go on. Since not everyone makes perfect choices all the time, it seems clear that one person’s ‘logic’ is not neccesarily the same as the next. With all that said, it would seem that a person with a better or more complete understanding of any and all subjects involved in a discussion would have the less-flawed reasoning. Unfortunately, it is ultimately impossible to know who this may be at any given time, since even a small issue can involve a lot of different topics, when fully considered.

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Sabrina Edwards on January 16, 2008, 10:43 PM

To love yourself, while not harming anyone, and to not expect that others will think as you. It’s the ability to think like others, even when you disagree wholeheartedly with them. It’s being able to compromise, or even delicately outwit when needed. It’s stepping outside the society of sheeples, and thinking for oneself. It’s following the divine will that is in each of us, rather than living for what we “want”, or what others want of us.
It’s being able to look aside from what the media tell you, to do and think what you know is right. It’s studying for yourself, every last detail of that which confuses you, rather than simply judging it because you are too ignorant to understand.
This is reason.

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Douglas Whitmore on January 17, 2008, 8:31 PM

vikingsabrina says it very well.
I call this ‘listening’. Listening is more than auditory it’s absorbing, learning, transitioning and as VS said,“It’s the ability to think like others…”


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