­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Reasoning

The mental faculty that helps the human being to analyze and generate conclusions on the basis of the assumptions or premises is called as the reasoning. It is also considered as the means by which every rational being gives explanations and proposes reasons for a cause and effect process.

There are many cognitive scientists and psychologists who had studied the process of reasoning. They concentrate on the analysis on how people reason. They started analyzing which neural processes or cognitive processes are involved in reasoning and how the inferences that are drawn by people are affected by the cultural factors.

The word reason gives a meaning which overlaps with rationality to a large extent. The meaning of the word interpreted in the human sense vary from the adjective “reason” which in philosophical context mean rational rather than meaning reasoned or reasonable. The concept in language and logic is closely related to the concept of reason. It is similar to the meaning of the word logic which is derived from the Greek word is logos which mean root of logic and the translated term in Latin is used to mean ratio which also included the mathematical ratio and then in French, the term is translated to raison which is later brought to English as reason.

Such that, the word reason has various meanings, even at times the term logic is identical with the term reason which is used to mean the concept of being rational. At times logic is perceived as the most pure form of reason. Though logic is one aspect of reason, logic is considered distinct from that of reason. The Greek philosopher Aristotle is considered as the man of logic. The Prior Analysis and Posterior Analysis of Aristotle gives the rules by which the reason operates.

Since the Ancient Greeks doesn’t have a separate word to mean logic distinct from that of the language and the reason, a new term was coined by Aristotle “syllogism” through which the logic can be identified as a distinct field of study for the first time ever. In a broader sense, Aristotle referred to the rational thought when he was referring to the term “the logical”.

The main difference between logic and the reason is that the logic is done inside a system whereas reasoning is done outside the system. Even animals perform action that are logical. For example if a dog is once kicked it knows the warning signs and avoids being kicked again in future.

Questions:

• What is reasoning?
• What is difference between logic and reasoning?