The Concept Of Reason And Its Truthfulness

“How do you know that it is true?”. “It is logical”, follows the answer with a detailed explanation. Knowledge is defined as a “justified true belief”. In order to satisfy the first component of the description, i.e. justification, reason as a way of knowing can be used. To do so, different methods of reasoning, such as deduction and induction can be put into practice. Generally, these methods and reason as a whole are considered reliable sources of justified information. But is it always like that? In fact, although reason is generally a valid source of knowledge, the truthfulness of reason should never be taken for granted.

Pertaining to the strengths of reason, it should be mentioned that its two methods, inductive and deductive reasonings, are of big value. Firstly, let us examine deductive reasoning. It is described as a type of reasoning where particular conclusions are reached through general truths. The simplest example is as follows. All men are mortal. Mark is a man. Therefore, he is mortal. Here, the general claim about the mortality of humans provided the specific example about Mark. The most important strength of this type of reasoning is that it helps to create categories. In the above-mentioned example, “mortal men” were the category into which Mark, who is obviously a man, fitted. Hence, deductive reasoning, through the creation of categories, provides certain and valid knowledge. Next, inductive reasoning should also be considered. Opposed to deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning is the process of obtaining general information from particular examples. This method is especially applicable in natural sciences as it is mainly information-based. For instance, when finding out that three organic compounds produce carbon dioxide and oxygen when burnt, empirical evidence suggests that all organic compounds follow the same rule. In this case, categories do not help but they are created which then help to infer specific details. This means that inductive and deductive reasoning are in circular relationship with one another. Applicable in a variety of contexts and situations, these provide/create categories and help one to come to justified and valid conclusions through certain premises.

However, the premises and/or the conclusions reached through inductive and deductive reasoning are not necessarily true because the sole fact that something follows a logical pattern does not indicate its absolute truth. Both of these methods bear certain inherent risks. Let us start with deductive reasoning. In order for the particular information derived from a general claim to be true, the claim itself must be true. Of course, even in case of an untrue claim the conclusion may be valid, and this is what distracts and deceives some people. This may be used in advertising. Our product is the best product. You should buy the best product. Therefore, you should buy our product! This is a simple example, but more complex and sophisticated examples are used to reach suchlike valid but untrue conclusions by politicians and advertisers mainly. What refers to inductive reasoning, it should be mentioned that on the way of generalizing things, exceptions may be neglected. This phenomenon is known as hasty generalizations. An example from linguistics is appropriate here. In the German language in order to make a noun possessive one adds the letter ‘s’ at the end of the word; this is the generalized claim based on certain examples. But the word Junge, which means a boy, should receive an ‘n’ at the end to become possessive. As there is no specific explanation to this, it is logical and valid to think that it should have received an ‘s’, and yet it is not true. This implies that the hasty generalizations made through inductive reasoning may leave out important exceptions and hence formulate wrong thought. So, in cases of both inductive and deductive reasoning the conclusions obtained may be false due to the inherent fallacies of these methods.

All in all, reason as a way of knowing helps one get to justified and valid information/conclusions. Still, whether these are true or not has to be critically discerned by the public; otherwise, the fallacies of reason might overweigh its strengths and lead to wrong thoughts and beliefs. So, reason is actually a powerful and reliable source of knowledge, but only when perceived and exercised prudently and critically.