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reasoning |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reasoning \Rea"son*ing\, n. 1. The act or process of adducing a reason or reasons; manner of presenting one's reasons. 2. That which is offered in argument; proofs or reasons when arranged and developed; course of argument. His reasoning was sufficiently profound. --Macaulay. Syn: Argumentation; argument. Usage: {Reasoning}, {Argumentation}. Few words are more interchanged than these and yet technically, there is a difference between them Reasoning is the broader term, including both deduction and induction. Argumentation denotes simply the former, and descends from the whole to some included part while reasoning embraces also the latter, and ascends from a part to a whole. See {Induction}. Reasoning is occupied with ideas and their relations; argumentation has to do with the forms of logic. A thesis is set down: you attack, I defend it you insist, I prove; you distinguish, I destroy your distinctions; my replies balance or overturn your objections. Such is argumentation. It supposes that there are two sides, and that both agree to the same rules Reasoning, on the other hand, is often a natural process, by which we form from the general analogy of nature, or special presumptions in the case, conclusions which have greater or less degrees of force, and which may be strengthened or weakened by subsequent experience. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reason \Rea"son\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Reasoned}; p. pr & vb n. {Reasoning}.] [Cf. F. raisonner. See {Reason}, n.] 1. To exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts. 2. Hence: To carry on a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to formulate and set forth propositions and the inferences from them to argue. Stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord. --1 Sam. xii. 7. 3. To converse; to compare opinions. --Shak. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: reasoning adj : endowed with the capacity to reason [syn: {intelligent}, {reasoning(a)}, {thinking(a)}] n : thinking that is coherent and logical [syn: {logical thinking}, {abstract thought}]
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