THINKING 101, Lesson 8: The Foundation of Reason

Reasoning requires a leap. It's not quit as iffy as a "leap of faith," but more iffy than a mathematical proof. It's a "leap of thought," and it's called an "inference."

When we infer, we are taking our understanding of one or more ideas, deciding if we think they are true, and then "leaping" to a new idea that seems to follow from the others. Here's an example:

Because: The sun is shining.
And: It's Saturday (no work or school).
Therefore: It's a good day for a picnic!

See how easy? We do it all the time. I'm sure all mammals and birds do it (although some people would argue against that), and I think reptiles and amphibians do it some of the time. Fish? Maybe a little.

An inference like the one above is made of one or more "claims" or "premises" and a "conclusion." All together, it's called a logical "argument," but that's not the kind of argument in which people are yelling at each other.

A logical argument is not the same as an "explanation" in which we just know or assume the conclusion is true and are looking for reasons why.

A logical argument, since it's a leap of thought, is always a little tentative, because we (or someone else) could discover that one of the premises is not true, or that we've made too big a leap to get to the conclusion.

Happy thinking!