Reason as a way of knowing

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REASON
Definition: philosophy the intellect regarded as a source of knowledge, as contrasted with experience

Strengths

  1. Reason leads to objective knowledge, that is, it reaches conclusions based on observations and fact and not based on emotional or personal bias

Example: For example, if all of the members of group A are in group B and all of the members of group B are in group C, then all of the members in group A must be in group C.

  1. Reasoning can help make decisions and to some extent, help when problem solving.  

Example: For example, a math problem asks if, “All rectangles are squares. Why or why not?” You could say that rectangles that are not squares exist, and that the rules that define a square (four 90 degree angles, two pairs of parallel lines, equal sides) are stricter than the rules that define a rectangle (four 90 degree angles, two pairs of parallel lines), thus allowing for non-square rectangles.

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  1. Reason helps to assess what is true

Example: For instance, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes (which are natural phenomenons) were once believed to have formed because of the expansion of the earth. Scientists later discovered plate tectonics and proved that the earth is not in fact expanding.

Weaknesses

  1. Reasoning allows one to make claims with prior knowledge and can be misleading because it is conditional on whether the supporting information is true or not.

Example: “All boys I know love football. I am a boy. Therefore, I love football.” But although the process makes sense, since the first ...

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