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Information about Practical Reason

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." -- Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut


In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. This contrasts with theoretical reason (often called speculative reason), which is the use of reason to decide what to believe. For example: agents use practical reason to decide how to build a telescope, but theoretical reason to decide which of two theories of light and optics is the best.

In cognitive research, practical reason is the process of ignoring unproductive possibilities in favor of productive possibilities. It is considered a form of cognitive bias, because it is illogical. An example would be calling all hospitals to look for your missing child, but not checking morgues, as finding his corpse would be 'counter-productive.'

See also

References

  • Charles Blattberg, From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics: Putting Practice First, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, ch. 3. ISBN 0-19-829688-6. A critique of the conception of practical reason associated with pluralist moral and political philosophy in favour of a hermeneutical alternative.
  • Charles Taylor, "Explanation and Practical Reason," in Philosophical Arguments, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-674-66476-0.

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Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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In western philosophy, reason has had a twofold history. On the one hand, it has been taken to be objective and so to be fixed and discoverable by dialectic, analysis or study.
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Action theory is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing intentional (wilful) human bodily movements of more or less complex kind. This area of thought has attracted the strong interest of philosophers ever since Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
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Speculative reason or pure reason is theoretical (or logical, deductive) thought (sometimes called theoretical reason), as opposed to practical (active, willing) thought.
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Speculative reason or pure reason is theoretical (or logical, deductive) thought (sometimes called theoretical reason), as opposed to practical (active, willing) thought.
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Cognition is a diffuse term, used in different ways by different disciplines. In psychology, it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological functions.
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A cognitive bias is any of a wide range of observer effects identified in cognitive science and social psychology including very basic statistical, social attribution, and memory errors that are common to all human beings.
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Action theory is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing intentional (wilful) human bodily movements of more or less complex kind. This area of thought has attracted the strong interest of philosophers ever since Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
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Action, is a concept of interest in philosophy, it has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an agent can do.

For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by
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Rhetorical reason may be defined as the faculty of discovering the crux of the matter, endemic to rhetorical invention, that precedes argumentation. Aristotle's definition of rhetoric, “The faculty of observing, in any given case, the available means of persuasion,”
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Speculative reason or pure reason is theoretical (or logical, deductive) thought (sometimes called theoretical reason), as opposed to practical (active, willing) thought.
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Charles Blattberg (born 1967 in Toronto, Canada) is a professor of political philosophy at the Université de Montréal.

Blattberg grew up in Toronto and studied towards his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto.
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Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Persian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, and Korean philosophy.
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Western philosophy is a term that refers to philosophical thinking in the Western or Occidental world, as opposed to Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies.
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The history of philosophy is the study of philosophical ideas and concepts through time. Issues specifically related to history of philosophy might include (but are not limited to): How can changes in philosophy be accounted for historically? What drives the development of thought
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This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. In Europe, the spread of Christianity through the Roman world marked the end of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of Medieval philosophy.
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Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Europe and the Middle East in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance.
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Modern philosophy is philosophy done during the "modern" era of Europe and North America. It is not a specific doctrine or school, (and so should not be confused with Modernism
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Contemporary philosophy in the Western world, for the sake of brevity and for the purposes of this article, is defined as themes and projects in philosophy conducted within the last four decades.
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Philosophy is an ongoing discussion involving and considering knowledge about the Universe, the mind, and the body, thought, language, mathematics, existence, humanness, and considering, amongst other topics, how knowledge
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The alphabetical list of philosophers is so large it had to be broken up into several pages. To look up a philosopher you know the name of, click on the first letter of his or her last name.
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Philosophies: particular schools of thought, styles of philosophy, or descriptions of philosophical ideas attributed to a particular group or culture - listed in alphabetical order.
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A philosophical movement is either the appearance or increased popularity of a specific school of philosophy, or a fairly broad but identifiable sea-change in philosophical thought on a particular subject.
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This is a list of philosophical lists. This page aims to list all list-articles related to philosophy.

Lists of general philosophical topics

  • List of basic philosophy topics
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Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is a branch of philosophy, a species of value theory or axiology, which is the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. Aesthetics is closely associated with the philosophy of art.
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Ethics (via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek ἠθική [φιλοσοφία]
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Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief.

The term "epistemology" is based on the Greek words "
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