I would like someone to sum up in the most straight forward way possible the differences between “reason” and “logic”. An analogy or example would be most welcome. I was asked to explain this by a 15 year old Taiwanese boy; who, seems to be smart beyond his years. Please keep his age in mind when answering this question. I will forward any good answers to him.
[quote=“fenlander”]I would like someone to sum up in the most straight forward way possible the differences between “reason” and “logic”. An analogy or example would be most welcome. I was asked to explain this by a 15 year old Taiwanese boy; who, seems to be smart beyond his years. Please keep his age in mind when answering this question. I will forward any good answers to him.
[/quote]
He’s going to be 55 if you wait for reason or logic, let alone an explanation of the difference, from this site.
Seriously though, they can have very specific uses in certain situations (usually as technical terms in philosophy or by philosophers) but they’re often used as synonyms and have no real difference in meaning when used as nouns, except that reason can also be used to mean the cause of something. Reason can also be used as a verb, but logic cannot.
Why you do it.
How you find the answer.
Simplistic, I know, but there are many kinds of reason.
“the heart has reasons that reason does not know” and whatnot.
Jaboney: No, those two explanations can be switched and still be acceptable, especially the second. For the first, “The reason I did that…” vs “The logic behind that decision…” would both be followed by an explanation that could be the same in both sentences.
Reason’s a faculty; logic a set of rules for it’s application.
That’s what the above is meant to suggest, in maybe too simplistic terms.
I don’t think it’s that clear cut, certainly not in common usage.
Probably true. Probably because in common usage one means ‘motive’, the other, ‘makes sense’.
[quote=“Jaboney”]Reason’s a faculty; logic a set of rules for it’s application.
That’s what the above is meant to suggest, in maybe too simplistic terms.[/quote]
Thanks for your replies I like this as a way to explain it to him. So what did Ayn Rand mean when she says that “reason is the most important” even more so than ego and self interest. Surely reason is very subjective is it not? Something Ayn Rand was trying to avoid. This kid is studying Ayn Rand, and he is Taiwanese not a native English speaker. He is doing pretty damn well at it too.
Jaboney: I’m just always a little wary when people ask me to define how two words are different. My supervisor comes to me all the time at work and asks me which is correct between two things and a lot of the time I end up telling him that it depends who he asks, which is kind of a cop out, but it’s true. Even then, just because I would never use a particular term (such as “in back of”) does not mean that I don’t necessarily understand it. To bring this somewhat back to the topic, I think it’s because a lot of people involved in English learning (as opposed to acquisition, to provide a shout out to ironlady and the CI people) end up approaching English like it is a branch of formal logic, when it’s much fuzzier and contextual.
fenlander: Presumably because she was obsessed with rationality and assumed that ego and self interest weren’t rational, when actually, sometimes they are. She largely thought that building a perfect human or a perfect society was like building a perfect bridge or a profitable railroad company, which is why, incidentally, her heroic protagonists are such boring pains in the arse.
Anyway, I’d get him off the Rand quick smart. That stuff is worse than amphetamines and will do greater and longer lasting damage, both to him and those around him. I’m not just talking about the philosophy, but the crap writing and how humourless she was.
[quote=“fenlander”]This kid is studying Ayn Rand[/quote] :ohreally:
If you really must, I suppose you could have a look at this.
Why not get the kid reading Andre Gide? I mean, if an author’s going to despoil a young mind, better sex than drivel.
[quote=“Jaboney”][quote=“fenlander”]This kid is studying Ayn Rand[/quote] :ohreally:
If you really must, I suppose you could have a look at this.
Why not get the kid reading Andre Gide? I mean, if an author’s going to despoil a young mind, better sex than drivel. [/quote]
That’s a bit bloody subjective of you
Anyways thanks for the suggestions from both of you. Hey at least the kid is thinking okay!!!
By the way your link was a good one as the book was well presented and well explained.