1: Introduction
- Page ID
- 306912
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)In the most literal sense, a reasonable person is a person that is capable of and amenable to reasoning. Reasonable people are people you can reason with. For myself, I suspect that after teaching Critical Thinking for decades, I know more about how to be a reasonable person than I realize as a human being. However, I am probably also a much more reasonable person that I might have been had a not thought about what it means to be reasonable and developed some reasoning skills. Even for those who try their best, being perfectly reasonable remains aspirational. But the point is to try. And the trying will go much better if we have thought about what it is to be reasonable and how to be reasonable. Seeing our targets clearly and having some skill with a bow is no guarantee of hitting the target. But it really helps.
Being reasonable, we should grant at the outset, is not the end all and be all of life. People find meaning and purpose in all sorts of things. Often, other things matter as much or more. Your team winning the championship sometimes means more if you are a sports fan. Getting into law school matters more to some students. Cooking the perfect lasagna may matter more when you are planning a dinner party. Napping with my cat sometimes matters more to me. For most people, being reasonable isn’t really an end in itself at all. But it is a quality anyone can cultivate which can make the pursuit of just about any other goal go better. Except maybe napping with your cat.
Like most logic teachers, I’ve spent too much of my career focused on the truth-oriented utility of logic and critical thinking. Getting at truths is important and we can hardly neglect truth in explaining logic and critical thinking. But here I’d also emphasize the personal and social virtues of critical thinking. It is only by charitably reconstructing another’s reasoning that we can understand their point of view. And understanding each other fosters mutual respect and regard. With some skill, reasoning with people who see things differently is interesting and engaging. Good critical thinking skills can serve as a foundation for understanding and friendship across many other points of difference.
In the absence of good reasoning skills, many people feel threatened by disagreement and retreat in fear or frustration. We can see this clearly in the tendency for people to associate with others who are like-minded. When affinity develops exclusively between like-minded people who can easily identify with each other, division and enmity towards those who see things differently soon follows. When good critical thinking skills are widespread, they serve as a defense against social balkanization. Reasonable people have a much easier time getting along with each other, even when they are highly diverse in other regards.
Logic and love are not as far apart as people often suppose. On the contrary, they are close kin. Bertrand Russell captures this insight well in his autobiography:
Ever since puberty I have believed in the value of two things: kindness and clear thinking. At first these two remained more or less distinct; when I felt triumphant, I believed most in clear thinking, and in the opposite mood I believed most in kindness. Gradually, the two have come more and more together in my feelings. I find that much unclear thought exists as an excuse for cruelty, and that much cruelty is prompted by superstitious beliefs.
Watching my own society grow more deeply divided in recent years, I’ve come to see understanding as co-equal with knowledge and rational belief among the goals of critical thinking. We are capable of understanding ways of thinking we don’t endorse. And understanding is a worthy goal on its own. We humanize each other when we try to understand each other, whether we ultimately come to agree or not. Understanding others fairly and charitably is a precondition of any reasonable evaluation of the diverse views of others. Disagreement is only reasonable at the end of an involved shared process of developing a mutual understanding of diverse views and sharing thoughtful peer review. People who eventually come to disagree reasonably will have first worked together on the joint project of understanding each other. A healthy regard for each other’s humanity comes with this. This is one of the ways critical thinking incorporates and promotes ethically healthy relationships and community. Becoming a more reasonable person is a humanizing enterprise.