Thoughts About Good Reasoning

“It doesn’t make any real difference whether you arrive at your views based on reasoning or not” Do you agree with this sentence??

Reasoning is the process of making inferences from a body of information. We use reasoning to find answers to questions, to justify our answers, or to critically judge if an answer is right or wrong. Then, is it possible to explain that our views are reasonable and rational without reasoning?

To reason means to use arguments which contain premises and a conclusion. We can present arguments by either using the modus ponens rule or the modus tollens rule.

The first argument means ‘proposing mode’. The logical operator If/Then is called the conditional. Modus ponens states that if the antecedent of a conditional is true, then the consequent must also be true. The modus ponens argument is comprised of a few statements. The first statements are called the premises, while the last statement is called a conclusion. If the premises are all true, then the conclusion is true as well.

The modus tollens is a form of logical argument which states that if the first proposition is false, then the second is false as well.

Therefore, to make a point of view without reasoning does not make sense because it is necessary to reason in order to find the truth.

First of all, if our arguments are not based on reasoning, we are sure to fall on fallacies. To reason is supposed to enlighten us, to make us more knowledgeable, to show that we are capable of acting intelligently and independently. Then we are sure to produce views which are clear and unbiased.

In addition, we cannot have views about important questions of life without using our reason. Important questions of life need to be examined from many angles and in different lights. Therefore, reasoning is the essence of critical thinking. We have to reason in order to understand exactly the problem and how to find the best solution to it. Reasoning will help us to have sound argument. Otherwise, views which are not based on reason are sloppy, irrelevant, and illogical. I need to develop my question and analyzing skill and without reasoning it is impossible for my views to sound deep and accurate.

Furthermore, views which are not based on reason are questionable and can generate unethical decisions. According to Kant, we have the capacity to reason and that reason encourages moral actions (plato.stanford.edu).

It does not make any sense indeed to arrive at views which are not based on reasoning. I do believe that all our views should be on the basis of reasoning. Otherwise our life will be a pandemonium. According to Henri Bergson, the most famous and influential French philosophers, we cannot have science without conscience otherwise it is the ruin of the soul. In the same manner, we cannot have views without reason otherwise our premises are wrong and our conclusion will not sound true.

Our views should be based on reason and not on emotions. We need to take the time to study the issues and try to make objective and rational decisions.