reason

In western philosophy, reason has had a twofold history. On the one hand, it has been taken to be objective and so to be fixed and discoverable by dialectic, analysis or study. Such objectivity is the case in the thinking of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Maimonides, al-Farabi and Hegel. In the vision of these thinkers, reason is divine or at least has divine attributes. Such an approach compelled religious philosophers--Aquinas, for example, Gilson more recently--to square reason with revelation, no easy task.
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(v. t.)
To support with reasons, as a request.
  

(v. t.)
To persuade by reasoning or argument; as, to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan.
  

(v. t.)
To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons; -- with down; as, to reason down a passion.
  

(v. t.)
To find by logical processes; to explain or justify by reason or argument; -- usually with out; as, to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon.
  

(v. t.)
To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss; as, I reasoned the matter with my friend.
  

(n.)
To exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts.
  

(n.)
To converse; to compare opinions.
  

(n.)
The faculty or capacity of the human mind by which it is distinguished from the intelligence of the inferior animals; the higher as distinguished from the lower cognitive faculties, sense, imagination, and memory, and in contrast to the feelings and desires. Reason comprises conception, judgment, reasoning, and the intuitional faculty. Specifically, it is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty.
  

(n.)
Ratio; proportion.
  

(n.)
Hence: To carry on a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to formulate and set forth propositions and the inferences from them; to argue.
  

(n.)
Due exercise of the reasoning faculty; accordance with, or that which is accordant with and ratified by, the mind rightly exercised; right intellectual judgment; clear and fair deductions from true principles; that which is dictated or supported by the common sense of mankind; right conduct; right; propriety; justice.
  

(n.)
A thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; a just ground for a conclusion or an action; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation; the efficient cause of an occurrence or a phenomenon; a motive for an action or a determination; proof, more or less decisive, for an opinion or a conclusion; principle; efficient cause; final cause; ground of argument.
  

Reason The wisdom which ensues from the union of buddhi with manas, as contrasted with the higher immanent wisdom of atma-buddhi; also the human mind, which finds its place in the union of the higher and lower nature through the mediating fourth principle or kama, which itself works through what the Qabbalists call nephesh or the Latins the anima. Again, in some European philosophers, the characteristics of the Logos, which is stated to be cosmic mind or the Third Logos.
In Greek mythology Prometheus is represented as endowing man with reason and the use of the mental faculties, which corresponds to the descent of the manasaputras during the third root-race. In present mankind reason is a quality of manas, and its presence is the chief characteristic distinction between man and animal.

REASON - By reason is usually understood that power by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and right from wrong; and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment of particular ends.

A man deprived of reason is not criminally responsible for his acts, nor can he enter into any contract.

Reason is called the soul of the law; for when the reason ceases, the law itself ceases.

In Pennsylvania, the judges are required in giving their opinions, to give the reasons upon which they are founded. A similar law exists in France, which Toullier says is one of profound wisdom, because, he says, judgments are not as formerly silent oracles which require a passive obedience; their irrefragable authority, for or against those who have obtained them, is submitted to the censure of reason, when it is pretended to set them up as rules to be observed in other similar cases.

REASONABLE - Conformable or agreeable to reason; just; rational.

An award must be reasonable, for if it be of things nugatory in themselves, and offering no advantage to either of the parties, it cannot be enforced.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.