Practical Reasoning

I want to suggest in this week’s spotlight that it is neither unscientific nor irrational to hold spiritual beliefs. Indeed, I intend to go further and suggest that it is the only rational way to live. To that end, let’s examine the nature of reason. There are two general types of reason. Philosophically speaking, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. It contrasts with theoretical reason, often called speculative reason, which is the use of reason to decide what to follow. Theoretical reason tries to assess the way things are. Practical reason decides how the ...