Quotes about reasoning

Of course all such conclusions about appropriate actions against the rich and powerful are based on a fundamental flaw: This is us, and that is them. This crucial principle, deeply embedded in Western culture, suffices to undermine even the most precise analogy and the most impeccable reasoning.

4.39 HUMANITY & DIVINITYWhen you lose reasoning you forget humanity,When you forget laughter you lose Divinity.[222] – 4

4. Ditties of Life – 4.39 HUMANITY & DIVINITYWhen you lose reasoning you forget humanity,When you forget laughter you lose Divinity.[222] – 4

Holmes,” I cried, “this is impossible.” “Admirable!” he said. “A most illuminating remark. It IS impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Yet you saw for yourself. Can you suggest any fallacy?

Don't make the effort to appeal to logic and reasoning all the time; very few people can relate to that. Appeal to emotions instead; everyone, at least, can relate to that.

Perhaps the most general and most important mental habit to instill is an appreciation of the folly of trying to draw conclusions from incomplete and unrepresentative evidence. An essential corollary of this appreciation should be an awareness of how often our everyday experience presents us with biased samples of information.

When we prefer to believe something, we may approach the relevant evidence by asking ourselves,"what evidence is there to support this belief?"...Note that this question is not unbiased: It directs our attention to supportive evidence and away from information that might contradict the desired conclusion. Because it is almost always possible to uncover some supportive evidence, the asymmetrical way we frame the question makes us overly likely to become convinced of what we hope to be true.

Because so much disagreement remains hidden, our beliefs are not properly shaped by healthy scrutiny and debate. The absence of such argument also leads us to exaggerate the extent to which other people believe the way we do.

We may be particularly inclined to acquire and retain beliefs that make us feel good.

A person's conclusions can only be as solid as the information on which they are based. Thus, a person who is exposed to almost nothing but inaccurate information on a given subject almost inevitably develops an erroneous belief, a belief that can seem to be "an irresistible product" of the individual's (secondhand) experience.

we believe certain things because they ought to be true.

Causality is a pointless superstition. These days it would take more than one book to persuade anyone of that.

Was it probably true that reasoning beings were equal? It seemed more like a belief than a fact, even if I agreed with it. If you followed logic all the way back to its origin, did you inevitably end up at point of illogic, an article of faith?

I would like to believe that logic is questioning your reasoning to reach a conclusion.

Like Molière’s M. Jourdain, who spoke prose all his life without knowing it, mathematicians have been reasoning for at least two millennia without being aware of all the principles underlying what they were doing. The real nature of the tools of their craft has become evident only within recent times A renaissance of logical studies in modern times begins with the publication in 1847 of George Boole’s 'The Mathematical Analysis of Logic'.

Mathematics is not arithmetic. Though mathematics may have arisen from the practices of counting and measuring it really deals with logical reasoning in which theorems—general and specific statements—can be deduced from the starting assumptions. It is, perhaps, the purest and most rigorous of intellectual activities, and is often thought of as queen of the sciences.

1. God is (by definition) a being than which no greater being can be thought.2. Greatness includes greatness of virtue.3. Therefore, God is a being than which no being could be more virtuous.4. But virtue involves overcoming pains and dangers.5. Indeed, a being can only be properly said to be virtuous if it can suffer pain or be destroyed.6. A God that can suffer pain or is destructible is not one than which no greater being can be thought.7.For you can think of a greater being, that is, one tha

Searching for truth without skepticism, is like having sex without a genital.

Real atheist is not the one that does not believe in an imaginary big monkey, but the one that gives the imagination more importance than the reality.

If one does not have the basic conscientious capacity to refute the primitive textual verses of the scriptures that demand one to kill or torture another being for holding a different belief system than one's own, then that entity is no being of the civilized human society, it is merely a pest from the stone-age.

People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.

Alas! with all her reasoning, she found, that to retentive feelings eight years may be little more than nothing.

End is the end of your thinking and reasoning. End is not the end of endings.

Scholars note that human reasoning is limited not only by imperfect information and innate intellectual capacities but also by the broader culture that subsequently shapes the very optics that individuals use to categorize the world.

If you fail to know how to move with people without emotional discipline, you shall surely become the color of their emotions whenever they go beyond the boundaries of their emotions to display the real and true color of their emotions

Things don't happen for a reason, we make reasons out of things that happen.

Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.

With life the truth is not what is right or wrong, but with life the truth is the process, where life unfolds in every individual, and takes him to the whole.

Whenever the nature of the subject permits the reasoning process to be without danger carried on mechanically, the language should be constructed on as mechanical principles as possible; while in the contrary case it should be so constructed, that there shall be the greatest possible obstacle to a mere mechanical use of it

The language of experiment is more authoritative than any reasoning: facts can destroy our ratiocination—not vice versa.

If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.

The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reasoning.

Reason and Faith are no more antithetical than the mind and the heart, for neither one exists or has meaning without the other". ~R. Alan Woods [2012]

Religion is a subject which, if the believers used the same "reasoning" to address problems at work as they use to defend their beliefs, they'd soon find themselves unemployed. And if they found their child applying that kind of "reasoning" on a homework assignment they'd wonder what the hell was the wrong with their child.

One of the most powerful lessons silence teaches us is to ponder

One of the most powerful lessons silence teach us is to ponder

Memorization has gotten a bad rap recently. Lots of students, and even some educators, say that being able to reason is more important than knowing facts; and besides, why bother committing things to memory when you've got Google? My response to this - after I've finished inwardly groaning - is that of course reasoning is important, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know facts as well. It's not like you have to choose between one or the other. Besides, facts give you a foundation on which to r

Mind your attention! Don’t just give it to any action and reaction at all!

You are not a real thinker if your thoughts haven't landed you in trouble yet

Strong thoughts are accompanied by great emotions

Thoughts are like things carried by a river. Capture the best while you can, after they have gone, you have to run after them and if per chance you find them, they are distorted

There is hope for you when your opinions are in opposition to those of the majority. Your brain mighty be working as it was meant to.

Reasoning is the mental tool that use to think with

There seemed no answer. He wasn't resigned to anything, he hadn't accepted or adjusted to the life he'd been forced into. Yet here he was, eight months after the plague's last victim, nine since he's spoken to another human being, ten since Virginia had died. Here he was with no future and a virtually hopeless present. Still plodding on.Instinct? Or was he just stupid? Too unimaginative to destroy himself? Why hadn't he done it in the beginning when he was in the very depths? What had impelled h

The sensible man,' Crow had said (to Sherlock Holmes), 'don't look to confirm what he already knows -- he looks to deny it. Finding evidence that backs up your theories ain't useful, but finding evidence that your theories are wrong is priceless. Never try to prove yourself right -- always try to prove yourself wrong instead.

The idea that reason and rationality is somehow separate from and antithetical to ones ' heart' is one of the most absurd theologies I have ever in my life heard." ~R. Alan Woods ("Just Keeping It Real", Copyright 2012)

Being that 'reason is not antithetical to faith' (Woods) and that Pentecost established the Reality of super-nature (Lewis) and that 'theology matters' (Wimber), then 'empowered evangelicalism' (Nathan) is the natural expression of discipleship."~R. Alan Woods [2013]

There are three people one can never reason with: a drunk, a crazy person, and a fool.

Somewhere Chesterton writes--I think it is Chesterton--that you cannot reason a man from a position that reason didn’t deliver him to.

... insanity is never reasonable.

Reason and Faith are not antithetical, but rather synergistic".

The light obtained by setting straw men on fire is not what we mean by illumination.

Reason is not always reasonable

Intuitions are like migratory birds, they come without a map without a reason.

Moral philosophers say things like, ‘What is actually wrong with cannibalism?’ There are two ways of responding to that: one is to shrink back in horror and say, ‘Cannibalism! Cannibalism! We can’t talk about cannibalism!’ The other is to say, ‘Well, actually, what is wrong with cannibalism?’ Then you work it out and you tease it out and you decide yes, actually, cannibalism is wrong, but for the following reasons. So I’d like to think that my moral values at least partly come from reasoning. Tr

Do you know, I sometimes, catch myself wishing that I too were blind to the facts of life and only knew its fancies and illusions. They're wrong, all wrong, of course, and contrary to reason; but in the face of them my reason tells me, wrong and most wrong, that to dream and live illusions gives greater delight. And after all, delight is the wage for living. Without delight living is a worthless act. To labor at living and be unpaid is worse than to be dead. He who delights the most lives the mo

Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.

It is always more easy to discover and proclaim general principles than to apply them.

The first questions naturally raised by a person emerging from the fog of childhood are the same questions that led Aristotle and other great philosophers to think and write deeply on the subjects of first philosophy and ethics.

Reasoning with a drunkard is likeGoing under water with a torch to seek for a drowning man.

She was aware that reason had left the room. She was not sorry to see it go.

In the world of primitive savages, religion and bigotry go hand in hand. But, in the world of civilized humans, religion and reason must go hand in hand.

Intellect is the virtue of ignoring one’s emotions’ attempt to contaminate one’s opinions.

Faith without reason produces a mindless Christianity which is less than useless; the focus on justice in this world produces a theology that chases its own tail."~R. Alan Woods [2013]

There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.

...what about the stone, Mr Lovegood? The thing you call the Resurrection Stone?""What of it?""Well, how can that be real?""Prove that it is not," said Xenophilius.Hermione looked out

If Jarod Kintz was a cat, he'd stalk people silently and deadly. Right now, all he does is bark at them for no good reason, like all the good people do.

Wisdom along with maturity is self understanding and defining one's character through reasoning in a circumstance.

A religion that demands absolutely irrefutable obedience, is anything but religion.

The more you read, the harder it is to condemn.

The far we can see, we are! It is time we lifted our eyes beyond the horizon of our present boundaries and see goodies ahead of us.

What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord?Or to the dreadful summit of the cliffThat beetles o'er his base into the sea,And there assume some other horrible formWhich might deprive your sovereignty of reasonAnd draw you into madness? Think of it.[The very place puts toys of desperation,Without more motive, into every brainThat looks so many fathoms to the seaAnd hears it roar beneath.]

hapIf you're brighter than a lightning bug, don't show your ass

If you're brighter than a lightning bug, don't show your ass

Success shouldn't be revenge or a way to overwhelm the naysayers. If that is your reason, you are far from being content.

Great achievers are great thinkers and great thinkers, are great achievers.

Theologians, and religionists in general, start with a fantasy premise and then proceed to apply rigorous formal logic to tease out its implications. Stark himself points out that “theology consists of formal reasoning about God.” This is admirably exact. Theologians, beginning with a wished-for creation of their own minds, analyze that creation’s characteristics by rigorous application of the principles of formal—that is, deductive—logic.

In thinking about ethics, we should not hesitate to question ethical views that are almost universally accepted if we have reasons for thinking that they may not be as securely grounded as they appear to be.

How much truth is contained in something can be best determined by making it thoroughly laughable and then watching to see how much joking around it can take. For truth is a matter that can withstand mockery, that is freshened by any ironic gesture directed at it. Whatever cannot withstand satire is false.

By Hays' reasoning, penetrating a rectum with a penis is a violation of how God meant humans to function. However, penetrating a human body with a sword, a common way to kill people in biblical times, is acceptable. Apparently human bodies were designed to be penetrated by metal implements, but not by flesh.

Intelligence seeks reasons behind things. Wisdom looks for things behind reasons.

Mystics reign where lacks true education.

I'll not listen to reason... reason always means what someone else has got to say.

Religion without reason is merely an illusion of religion – it is a mockery of religion, like it has become today.

Keep in mind my friend, if an answer is not rational, then it is not an answer, but a delusion.

It is reasonable to reason with God because when you only rely on human reasoning, you will be diverted from your purpose.

Thus, you see, he arrived at the same end, via supposed duty, that he was previously pledged to via interest. I fancy a good number of us, when any line of action will promote our own interest, can make ourselves believe that reasons exist which compel us to it as a duty.

The truly terrible thing is that everybody has their reasons.

Learn the truth...never assume.Understand the plight...never judge.Put yourself in someone's shoes...never hurt.Think before you act, reason before you react.

Progress of the human society is predicated upon the proper functioning of a key element of the human mind, that is reasoning.

Common people tend to term any kind of bizarre phenomenon as “paranormal” or “supernatural”. They often exaggerate it as the work of the Gods. Behind this belief is nothing but primitive ignorance. Social progress means that people must (a necessity, not a luxury) align their beliefs and behavior to new knowledge and understanding of nature.

Logic is the science of the justification of conclusions we have reached by natural reasoning. My point is that, for such natural reasoning to occur, consciousness is not necessary. The very reason we need logic at all is because most reasoning is not conscious at all.

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

I see you better in music, I hear you better in wind, I feel you more in a flooding moonlight, that understands nothing, but darkness and silence.

Like Aristotle, conservatives generally accept the world as it is; they distrust the politics of abstract reason – that is, reason divorced from experience.

Rhetoric abounds in the cemeteries of reason.

As I have said, you have no reason to trust me, and an excellent reason not to.

I can understand backward patriarchal reasoning coming from a male, but from a woman - and of all people, a leader of women? It says something profound about leadership - and, if anything - what it says about followers is not very flattering at all.

As many ideas you can generate, encourage them to form nests in your mind, for one will surely liberate you.