Quotes About Reasoning

And one of the commonest forms of fallacious reasoning arising from ambiguity, is that of arguing from a metaphorical expression as if it were literal; that is, as if a word, when applied metaphorically, were the same name as when taken in its original sense: which will be seen more particularly in its place.

define logic as the science which treats of the operations of the human understanding in the pursuit of truth.

No one can be a great thinker who does not recognise, that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.

Truths are known to us in two ways: some are known directly, and of themselves; some through the medium of other truths. The former are the subject of Intuition, or Consciousness; 4 the latter, of Inference.

Az igazság többet nyer azoknak a tévedéseivel, akik kellÅ' felkészülés után a maguk fejével gondolkodnak, mint azoknak az igaz vélekedéseivel, akik csupán azért vélekednek így, mert nem hajlandók magukat gondolkodással gyötörni.

It may almost always be said both of sects and of individuals, who derive their morality from religion, that the better logicians they are, the worse moralists.

Geometry is a Deductive Science.

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

Every induction is a syllogism with the major premise suppressed.

Questions of ultimate ends do not admit of proof, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. To be incapable of proof by reasoning is common to all first principles; to the first premises of our knowledge, as well as to those of our conduct.

Nadie puede ser un gran pensador sin reconocer que su primer deber como tal consiste en seguir a su inteligencia cualesquiera que sean las conclusiones a que se vea conducido.

It is by logic that we prove. It is by intuition that we discover," said the mathematician Henri Poincare.l

Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me. Amen."-Martin Luther

But when you begin with bullshit the conclusion you reach is still bullshit.

[Physics is] a good framework for thinking. … Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.

Istoria este o explica?ie, dar nu o scuz?.

Scientific curiosity hungers for a knowledge of causes; causes which are physical, and, if possible, measurable.

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side

A moral person is one who constantly exercises, and acts on, his best rational judgment.

As natural as it may be to want to play on the winning team, the wish to secure divine favoritism strikes me as the worst possible reason to practice any religion. If the man who asked that question could not think of a dozen better reasons to be a Christian than that, then what, indeed, was he doing there?

I understood their reasoning, but I was sorry that church did not strike these wounded souls as a place they could bring the dark fruits of their equally dark nights.

Belief is the distinguishing of the existent from the nonexistent, it is the predication of reality, and on this reality depends the possibility of reasoning.

Every logical act of the intellect is an assertion that something is.