Mykolas Lekevičius 

The Role of Logic in Reasoning: An Argumentative Theory

The Role of Logic in Reasoning: An Argumentative Theory

Mykolas Lekevičius 

The Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Lithuania 

, 

Abstract

Reasoning and human reason is often held in high regard, although findings in cognitive psychology tend to contradict such an intuition. The famous Wason selection task depicting a practical use for Modus tollens and Modus ponens, where only 10% of subjects managed to find a correct solution is a perfect example. This raises questions: is reasoning really meant to improve our knowledge and decision-making? Is reasoning a superpower? H. Mercier and D. Sperber would answer both questions negatively and for that purpose they seek to reformulate the function of reasoning. Following the aforementioned authors, an evolutionary account of reasoning is given which is not at odds with the influence of the socio-cultural domain. They subscribe to a position stating that the function of reasoning is argumentative i.e. the role of reasoning is to persuade others. Reasoning is aligned more closely with intuitive inferences about reasons, where humans are very good at forming conclusions and coming up with reasons to support them (not the other way around) and are very good at evaluating if the conclusions others make follow from their premises. What is of note here is that the standard logical view of reasoning applies only when evaluating the reasoning of others. The upshot of my work is that I introduce the Adoption Problem which is an argument that some basic inferences must be logical in a certain sense (which is not in conflict with a position that reasoning is not logical). The argumentative theory of reasoning raises questions as “how do we teach critical thinking to subjects that don’t reason logically?” for it is clear that changes need to be made. The conclusion points to a common ground between reasoning and inference where logic still has an important role, yet the way reasoning must be understood is radically different.

Keywords: reasoning, inference, rule-following, argumentation, adoption problem

References

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Biodata

M. Lekevičius has been studying philosophy for the past four years and during those studies pursued different topics in the field of logic. Recently M. Lekevičius has engaged deeply with a problem known as the Adoption Problem raised by S. Kripke and pursed, polished by R. Padró, which questions the nature of inference. In short, there is an argument to be made that logic has a special status in relation to other sciences. The problem concerns inferences we make prior to any logical theory. Eventually, this led to an interest in cognitive science and set a new focus on empirical evidence concerning reasoning and inferences.