What is Reason?

As a student and teacher of philosophy, I have been thinking about the definition and nature of reason for about 25 years. I am in the process of writing a paper for a conference in May on the topic of “Reason and its Other.” By “reason” I am thinking primarily of the laws of thought as first described by Aristotle in Book IV of his Metaphysics. The laws of thought include the law of identity (a is a), the law of non-contradiction (not both a and non-a) and the law of excluded middle (either a or non-a). These laws are first principles and are assumed any time we think. They cannot be proven, but are the basis for any further proof. The laws of thought are not fallible, but our application of them is fallible. Our use of reason is fallible. I hope to explain more about how we use reason and how reason is a part of human nature.

I put the question to my Facebook community “what are your questions about reason?” Some of the responses I got were: “What is reason’s relationship to faith?”; “Is reason affected by the fall of humankind?”; “How is “reason” related to reasons, rationalizations, and human reason?”; and “How is reason related to metaphysics and one’s worldview?”

These are all good questions. I will attempt to address each question soon and incorporate them into my paper for the conference.