Reason_as_a_Way_of_Knowing

Reason is the procedure in which the ability to think, understand and draw conclusions is involved. Reasoning can be identified as a way of knowing in which we construct meanings together, in order to reach a plausible and logical conclusion. In general, reasoning is the ability of people to decide whether information is valid or not. Reason, is not the safest way of discovering the validity of information’s because it can cloud knowledge to a certain extent, in cases of different cultural background and beliefs. This is mostly because we greatly rely on our emotions and our own point of view. Moreover, in order to gain reason we also require the use of emotion and perception. Thus reason can indeed help in acquiring knowledge, but only up to a certain degree, as there are both strengths and weaknesses in the case of reason as means of gaining knowledge. What made man superior to the other animals was the ability of reasoning. But along with reason, also came will. Reason made man supreme but Will made man susceptible to temptation. A tangible example to support this view is the story of Adam and Eve. God created Adam and blessed him with reason thus making him superior to other animals. Along with Adam he also created Eve in order to accompany him. God had warned both of them that they were free to do anything they wanted, as long as they didn’t eat the apple from the tree of Knowledge. But one day Satan approached Eve and persuaded her by stressing that the consummation of all virtues is reason. God warned Adam not to be tempted and use his will without thinking, for some tempting forces should inveigle it. Satan’s temptation worked and Eve was seduced, bringing woe and misery to mankind. Thus Reason can be seen as both an advantage as well as a disadvantage when gaining knowledge. The meaning of the word Reason overlaps to a large extent with “rationality”, and in philosophical contexts, it means rational, not reasonable, which in turn means the use of logic. William Drummond once said, “He that will not reason is a bigot; He that cannot reason is a fool; and he that dares not reason is a slave”. Rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification". In more technical terms it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive". These can also to some extent apply to term Logic. Logic is “possessed of reason, intellectual, dialectical, argumentative thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle". Logic helps us to create a chain of reasoning that can extent our knowledge. These chains can lead to surprising results from obvious premises and the deduction of knowledge. Thus the role of Logic in deriving knowledge is clear. But in some cases reason or logic do not assist us in discovering what we want to know. Logic can be described as a tool used to dig holes. If one digs in a wrong place then no amount of digging will get you to the desired destination. But sometimes logic is not enough and you need to think again- that is digging another hole. But even reasoning is prone to mistakes. When an argument is not valid, we say that it is fallacious. Fallacious reasoning keeps us from knowing the truth, and the inability to think critically makes us vulnerable to manipulation by those skilled in the art of rhetoric. The word fallacy is used to describe any kind of false information or error of reasoning. To be more specific, fallacy is the invalid reasoning. For example: I have a friend from Nigeria. My friend likes the Greek Cuisine. Therefore all Nigerian’s like Greek Cuisine. This is a fallacy because the logical structure of the argument is invalid. In conclusion, the ability of reasoning is seen as the ability of human, which distinct him from animals. The connection between reasoning and reality has always been questioned. Reasoning, while adhering to patterns that are as stable as rules doesn’t guarantee that the conclusion is understood. Thus Logic or Reasoning doesn’t always lead to knowledge. Sometimes even if the conclusion is achieved rightly by reasoning it can still be rejected because of deep prejudice. Although logic lies at the center of knowledge, it is not a source of knowledge. It is not a picture of reality thus one can not entirely rely on his/her reason as a way of knowing.