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Definition: Reason |
ReasonNoun1. A rational motive for a belief or action; "the reason that war was declared"; "the grounds for their declaration". 2. An explanation of the cause of some phenomenon; "the reason a steady state was never reached was that the back pressure built up too slowly". 3. The capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination; "we are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil". 4. The state of having good sense and sound judgment; "his rationality may have been impaired"; "he had to rely less on reason than on rousing their emotions". 5. A justification for something existing or happening; "he had no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice". 6. A fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion; "there is reason to believe he is lying". Verb1. Decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion; "We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house". 2. Present reasons and arguments. 3. Think logically; "The children must learn to reason". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "reason" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | REASON, v.i. To weight probabilities in the scales of desire. REASON, n. Propensitate of prejudice. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Reason The Goddess of Reason, November 10th, 1793. Mlle. Candeille, of the Opéra, was one of the earliest of these goddesses, but Mme. Momoro, wife of the printer, the Goddess of Liberty, was the most celebrated. On November 10th a festival was held in Notre Dame de Paris in honour of Reason and Liberty, when women represented these "goddesses." Mlle. Candeille wore a red Phrygian cap, a white frock, a blue mantle, and tricolour ribbons. Her head was filleted with oak-leaves, and in her hand she carried the pike of Jupiter-Peuple. In the cathedral a sort of temple was erected on a mound, and in this "Temple of Philosophy" Mlle. Candeille was installed. Young girls crowned with oak-leaves were her attendants, and sang hymns in her honour. Similar installations were repeated at Lyons and other places. (See Liberty , Goddess of.) Mlle. Maillard, the actress, is mentioned by Lamartine as one of these goddesses, but played the part much against her will. Mlle. Aubray was another Goddess of Reason. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Reason, Because. "The reason I ask you to tell the story is because you can do it better than I." Because means "for the reason." This makes the sentence equivalent to "The reason I ask you to tell the story is for the reason that you can do it better than I." Use that instead of because. "Because William studied law is no reason why his brother should not do so." The following is better: "That William studied law is no reason why his brother should not do so." Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Roughly speaking, logic is the study of prescriptive systems of reasoning, that is, systems proposed as guides for how people (as well, perhaps, as other intelligent beings/machines/systems) ought to reason. Logic says which forms of inference are valid and which are not. Traditionally, logic is studied as a branch of philosophy, but it can also be considered a branch of mathematics. How people actually reason is usually studied under other headings, including cognitive psychology.
Logos: some words about logic
Logic is traditionally divided into deductive reasoning, concerned with what follows logically from given premises, and inductive reasoning, concerned with how we can go from some number of observed events to a reliable generalization.
As a science, logic defines the structure of statement and argument and devises formulae by which these are codified. Implicit in a study of logic is the understanding of what makes a good argument and what arguments are fallacious.
Philosophical logic deals with formal descriptions of natural language. Most philosophers assume that the bulk of "normal" proper reasoning can be captured by logic, if one can find the right method for translating ordinary language into that logic.
Following are more specific discussions of some systems of logic. See also: list of topics in logic.
Aristotelian logic
Aristotelian logic was pioneered by Aristotle. Although it is possible that Aristotle was taught by someone else, the earliest study of reasoning can be attributed to Aristotle. Aristotle and his followers held that two of the most important principles of logic are the law of non-contradiction and the law of excluded middle. This kind of logic is now given various names to distinguish it from more recent systems of logic, e.g., Aristotelian logic or classical two-valued logic.
The law of non-contradiction states that no proposition is both true and false and law of excluded middle states that a proposition must either be true or false. In combination, these laws require two truth values that are mutually exclusive. A proposition can be either true or false, but cannot be both at the same time.
Some have considered classical logic to be just like a mathematical theory, and in particular the laws of non-contradiction and the excluded middle to be simply axioms of the theory, which have to be assumed without proof. In fact this is not so:
A better way to look at these laws is that, without them, the logic still remains valid, but a whole lot of illogic becomes valid as well. Thus, those laws are simply filters for stripping away the illogic, and leaving only the part that doesn't depend on them—the logic.
- Assume the law of non-contradiction is false. This means it can still be true, so therefore it is true (it is only the law of non-contradiction that prevents " can be" from necessarily becoming "is"). Therefore classical logic still remains valid.
- Assume the law of the excluded middle is not true. It does not follow that the law of the excluded middle is false, or indeed that any other proposition of classical logic which was true is now false.
- More generally, consider the proposition: "The validity of Rule X is fundamental to the validity of logic. Unless you assume the validity of Rule X, logic is not valid". Now assume that Rule X (whatever it might be) is false. The conclusion that logic is not valid has to follow by logical reasoning. But if logic is not valid, this reasoning is also invalid, and the conclusion cannot be drawn. Thus, the validity of logic is independent of the assumption of validity of any of its supposed laws. (This is an argument by self reference.)
Formal logic
See also Propositional calculusFormal logic, also called symbolic logic, is concerned primarily with the structure of reasoning. Formal logic deals with the relationships between concepts and provides a way to compose proofs of statements. In formal logic, concepts are rigorously defined, and sentences are translated into a precise, compact, and unambiguous symbolic notation.
Some examples of symbolic notation are:
This statement defines p is 1 + 2 = 3 and that is true.
- p: 1 + 2 = 3
Two propositions can be combined using conjunction, disjunction or conditional. They are called binary logical operators. Such combined propositions are called compound propositions. For example,
In this case, and is a conjunction. The two propositions can differ totally from each other.
- p: 1 + 1 = 2 and "logic is the study of reasoning."
In mathematics and computer science, one may want to state a proposition depending on some variables:
This proposition can be either true or false according to the variable n.
- p: n is an odd integer.
A proposition with free variables is called propositional function with domain of discourse D. To form an actual proposition, one uses quantifiers. For every n, or for some n, can be specified by quantifiers: either the universal quantifier or the existential quantifier. For example,
This can be written also as:
- for all n in D, P(n).
The standard situation in mathematical analysis since Weierstrass, the quantifications for all ... there exists or there exists ... such that for all (and more complex analogues) can be expressed, instead of symbols. This may be done for clarity in certain cases also.
Mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the use of formal logic to study mathematical reasoning. At the beginning of the twentieth century, philosophical logicians including (Frege, Russell) attempted to prove that mathematics could be entirely reduced to logic. They held that in discovering the "logical form" of a sentence, you were somehow revealing the "right" way to say it, or uncovering some previously hidden essence. The reduction failed, but in the process, logic took on much of the notation and methodology of mathematics, and nowadays logic is accepted as an accurate way to describe mathematical reasoning.
Philosophical logic
Philosophical logic is essentially a continuation of the traditional discipline that was called "Logic" before it was supplanted by the invention of Mathematical logic. It is concerned with the elucidation of ideas such as reference, predication, identity, truth, quantification, existence, and others. Philosophical logic has a much greater concern with the connection between natural language and logic. See Philosophical logic.
Predicate logic
See also First-order predicate calculusGottlob Frege, in his Begriffsschrift, discovered a way to rearrange many sentences to make their logical form clear, to show how sentences relate to one another in certain respects. Prior to Frege, formal logic had not been successful beyond the level of sentential logic: it could represent the structure of sentences composed of other sentences using such words as "and", "or", and "not," but it could not break sentences down into smaller parts. It could not show how "Cows are animals" entails "Parts of cows are parts of animals."
Sentential logic explains the workings of words such as "and", "but", "or", "not", "if-then", "if and only if", and "neither-nor". Frege expanded logic to include words such as "all", "some", and "none". He showed how we can introduce variables and "quantifiers" to rearrange sentences.
- "All humans are mortal" becomes "All things x are such that, if x is a human then x is mortal." which may be written symbolically
.
- "Some humans are vegetarian" becomes "There exists some (at least one) thing x such that x is human and x is vegetarian" which may be written symbolically
Frege treats simple sentences without subject nouns as predicates and applies them to "dummy objects" (x). The logical structure in discourse about objects can then be operated on according to the rules of sentential logic, with some additional details for adding and removing quantifiers. Frege's work started contemporary formal logic.no,
Frege adds to sentential logic (1) the vocabulary of quantifiers (upside-down A, backward E) and variables, (2) a semantics that explains that the variables denote individual objects and the quantifiers have something like the force of "all" "some" in relation to those objects, and (3) methods for using these in language. To introduce an "All" quantifier, you assume an arbitrary variable, prove something that must hold true of it, and then prove that it didn't matter which variable you chose, that would have held true. An "All" quantifier can be removed by applying the sentence to any particular object at all. A "Some" (exists) quantifier can be added to a sentence true of any object at all; it can be removed in favor of a term about which you are not already presupposing any information.
Multi-valued Logic
The logics discussed above are all "bivalent" or "two-valued"; that is, the semantics for each of these languages will assign to every sentence either the value "True" or the value "False."
Systems which do not always make this distinction are known as non-Aristotelian logics, or multi-valued logics.
In the early 20th century Jan Łukasiewicz investigated the extension of the traditional true/false values to include a third value, "possible".
Logics such as fuzzy logic have since been devised with an infinite number of "degrees of truth", e.g., represented by a real number between 0 and 1. Bayesian probability can be interpreted as a system of logic where probability is the subjective truth value.
Logic and computers
Logic is extensively used in the fields of artificial intelligence, and computer science.
In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers predicted that when human knowledge could be expressed using logic with mathematical notation, it would be possible to create a machine that reasons, or artificial intelligence. This turned out to be more difficult than expected because of the complexity of human reasoning. Logic programming is an attempt to make computers do logical reasoning and Prolog programming language is commonly used for it.
In symbolic logic and mathematical logic, proofs by humans can be computer-assisted. Using automated theorem proving the machines can find and check proofs, as well as work with proofs too lengthy to be written out by hand.
In computer science, Boolean algebra is the basis of hardware design, as well as much software design.
Logic Puzzles
A large class of elementary logical puzzles can be solved using the laws of boolean algebra and logic truth tables. Familiarity with boolean algebra and its simplification process is a prerequisite to understand the following examples.
Example
On the Keikei Island, there lived two kinds of people -- knights and knaves. The knights always tell the truth, but the knaves always tell a lie.John and Bill are residents of the Keikie Island.
Example 1
John says: We are both knaves.Who is who?
Example 2
John: If Bill is a knave then I'm a knight.Bill: We are different.
Who is who?
Example 3
Logician: Are you both knights? John: Yes or No. Logician: Are you both knaves? John: Yes or No.Who is who?
Solution to Example 1
We can use Boolean algebra to deduce who's who as follows:Let J be true if John is a knight and let B be true if Bill is a knight. Now, either John is a knight and what he said was true, or John is not a knight and what he said was false. Tranlating that into Boolean algebra, we get:
Simplification Process:
Therefore John is a knave and Bill is a knight. Although most people can solve this puzzle without using Boolean algebra, the example still serves as a powerful testament of the power of Boolean algebra in sovling logic puzzles.
- by de Morgan's theorem.
See also analytic proposition; college logic; argument form; validity; soundness; cogency; deduction and induction; lambda calculus; modus ponens; affirming the consequent; modus tollens; disjunctive syllogism, faith, Scientific method; fuzzy logic; history of logic; set theory
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Logic."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In philosophy, reason (from Latin ratio, by way of French raison) is the faculty by means of which or the process through which human beings perform thought, especially abstract thought. Many thinkers have pondered reason, and the various views on the nature of reason may not be compatible with one another.
- Alternate uses: Reason (program), Reason (magazine)
Reason is sometimes narrowly defined as the faculty or process of drawing logical inferences. From Aristotle onwards, such reasoning has been classified as either deductive reasoning, meaning "from the general to the particular", or inductive reasoning, meaning "from the particular to the general". In the 19th century, Charles Peirce, an American philosopher, added a third classification, abductive reasoning, by which he meant "from the best available information to the best explanation", which has become an important component of the scientific method. In modern usage, "inductive reasoning" sometimes includes almost all non-deductive reasoning, including what Peirce would call "abductive". (See also logic, term logic.)
Reason has also been conceived more broadly. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explicate reason and its scope in this manner:
Reason is often opposed to sensation, perception, feeling, and desire.
- Reason includes not only our capacity for logical inference, but also our ability to conduct inquiry, to solve problems, to evaluate, to criticize, to deliberate about how we should act, and to reach an understanding of ourselves, other people, and the world. (Lakoff and Johnson 1999, pp. 3-4)
Rationalists see reason as the faculty by which fundamental truths are intuitively apprehended. These fundamental truths are the causes or "reasons" that things exist or happen. Empiricists, of course, deny the existence of such a faculty.
For Immanuel Kant, reason (Vernunft in Kant's German language) is the power of synthesizing into unity, by means of comprehensive principles, the concepts provided by the intellect (Verstand). The reason which gives a priori principles Kant calls "Pure Reason" (as in his The Critique of Pure Reason), as distinguished from the "Practical Reason" which is specially concerned with the performance of particular actions.
In theology, reason, as distinguished from faith, is the human intelligence exercised upon religious truth whether by way of discovery or by way of explanation. The limits within which reason may be used have been laid down differently in different churches and periods of thought: on the whole, modern Christianity, especially in the Protestant churches, tends to allow to reason a wide field, reserving, however, as the sphere of faith the ultimate (supernatural) truths of theology.
Regardless of how it is conceived, reason has often been seen as a uniquely human trait, which separates us from the other animals.
These days, the idea of reason as an independent faculty of the mind, separate from emotions, and unique to humanity, is under attack from a number of sources. Consider, for example, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's theories about the "embodied mind". (See the Lakoff article for more information.)
For a critique of reasons preeminent position within western culture since the renaissance see Voltaires Bastards by John Ralston Saul.
References
- George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1999). Philosophy In The Flesh. Basic Books.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Reason."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Reason magazine is a leading libertarian magazine.
from their website
- Reason is the monthly print magazine of “free minds and free markets.” It covers politics, culture, and ideas through a provocative mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. Reason provides a refreshing alternative to right-wing and left-wing opinion magazines by making a principled case for liberty and individual choice in all areas of human activity.
Contributors include Nick Gillespie, C.P. Freund, Jacob Sullum, Jesse Walker, Brian Doherty, Ronald Bailey, Sara Rimensnyder, Cathy Young, Jonathan Rauch and others.
External Links
- Reason
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Reason (magazine)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Reason is a popular real-time sound synthesis and sampling software program. It emulates a rack of hardware synthesizers, samplers, signal processors, sequencers and mixers. It can be used alone, or as a sub-system with music sequencer software. It is required, along with a laptop computer, by new students at the Berklee College of Music.
External Link
- Propellerhead Software
- Berklee College of Music
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Reason (program)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Reasoning is the act of using reason to derive a conclusion from certain premises. In general, a distinction is made between reasoning from the general to the particular (called deductive reasoning) and reasoning from the particular to the general (called inductive reasoning). Both types of reasoning are of interest to such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, and artificial intelligence.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Reasoning."
Synonyms: ReasonSynonyms: cause (n), ground (n), grounds (n), intellect (n), rationality (n), reasonableness (n), understanding (n), argue (v), conclude (v), reason out (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cause | Ground; reason, reason why; why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation; final cause; (intention); les dessous des cartes; undercurrents. |
Intellect | Noun: intellect, mind, understanding, reason, thinking principle; rationality; cogitative faculties, cognitive faculties, discursive faculties, reasoning faculties, intellectual faculties; faculties, senses, consciousness, observation, percipience, intelligence, intellection, intuition, association of ideas, instinct, conception, judgment, wits, parts, capacity, intellectuality, genius; brains, cognitive powers, intellectual powers; wit; ability; (skill); wisdom; Vernunft, Verstand. |
Intelligence Wisdom | Wisdom, sapience, sense; good sense, common sense, horse sense, plain sense; rationality, reason; reasonableness; adj; judgment; solidity, depth, profundity, caliber; enlarged views; reach of thought, compass of thought; enlargement of mind. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Reason |
| English words defined with "reason": Age of Reason ♦ By reason of ♦ for some reason ♦ It is reason ♦ with greater reason, with more reason, with reason. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "reason": Feast of Reason ♦ reason why copy ♦ Stand to Reason, SUCH A REASON PIST MY GOOSE. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "reason": Why-not. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever (American Beauty; writing credit: Alan Ball) Same reason. I love candy (The Matrix Reloaded; writing credit: Andy Wachowski; Larry Wachowski) He's the reason Cliffs Notes were invented (Reality Bites; writing credit: Ben Stiller, written by Helen Childress.) I don't care! All I know is we didn't build it, and that's reason enough to assume the worst and blow it to kingdom come (The Iron Giant; writing credit: Brad Bird) This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight (Withnail and I; writing credit: Bruce Robinson.) | |
Lyrics | Still I look to find a reason to believe (REASON TO BELIEVE; performing artist: Rod Stewart) You tryna blame me when I don't even know the reason (We Need A Resolution; performing artist: Aaliyah) And your ability to reason, is swept away (Everybody Plays the Fool; performing artist: Aaron Neville) Your reason for living's your reason for leaving (The Look Of Love; performing artist: ABC) Give me time to reason, (Turn Back Time; performing artist: Aqua) | |
Clever | If they had not landed there would be some reason for celebrating the fact. (references; author: Mark Twain) When the flag is unfurled, all reason is in the trumpet. (references; author: Ukrainian Proverb) Love has reasons that reason knows nothing of. (references; author: unknown) The heart has reasons which reason does not understand. (references; author: unknown) A single reason why you can do something is worth 100 reasons why you can't. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Beyond Reason (1970) Reason Over Passion (1969) No Reason to Stay (1966) Without Time or Reason (1962) A Reason for Staying (1961) | |
Song Titles | That Reason Why (performing artist: Idol Threat) Reason to Believe (performing artist: Rod Stewart) Give Me One Reason (performing artist: Tracy Chapman) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a procedure to treat cancer. Patients are injected with a photosensitizer which is a light sensitive drug selectively retained by cancer cells. When exposed to laser light, the photosensitizer in the cancer cells produces a toxic reaction which destroys the tumor. This photo shows an argon-ion laser, the first component of the argon pumped-dye laser (630nm red). This argon-ion laser emits blue-green light at 488/514 nm, and is used to excite a dye in the second component, the dye laser head, where the wavelength is changed to 630nm red. Different photosensitizers absorb light at different wavelengths. Some absorb light most efficiently in the blue light region of the spectrum around 400 nanometers(nm) with lesser absorption in the green and red light range. However, red light at 630 nm penetrates deeper into the tumor tissue (3-8 mm) than green or blue light. For this reason, the majority of PDT work has used 630 nm light. See artwork: GA-17. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | Aerial photograph of school of 400-500 pound bluefin tuna off Cat Cay, Bahamas Islands. The reason there are only adult tuna in the photo, is that they have come together for spawning. Credit: Fisheries. |
 | The effect of "Negative Gravity" : I don't know how it's done, Benjamin, but it's agin reason. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The reason Clemenceau said "We are staking the game upon the help of America". Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Maybe you can think up a good reason why I started the World War. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Dad, I've found there's no use trying to reason with your wife. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The reason of the Indian outbreak General Miles declares that the Indians are starved into rebellion. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | America has had reason to be proud of these native Philippine troopers, who have fought so valiantly in the past month to defend their homeland against the Nipponese invader. The members of this native army are the flower of Philippine manhood. They have. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The family of John Kelly who works in the Navy yard in south Boston. Their present tenement in Quincy is completely inadequate. They have been unable to move because every real estate agent has turned him down, claiming there was no reason why they should. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | I do not refer to myself as a housewife for the reason that I did not marry a house. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Pregnant Woman and Child (Sepi" by Shawn Sutherland Commentary: "I'm reposting the original in a larger size because so many people seemed to like the original and were bothered by its smaller size. I'm also including some other photos from the series. All are sepia-toned and have been touched up very lightly in Photos" | "Tracks" by Scott Ratcliffe Commentary: "This was shot back in july, so its a bit out of date, but for some reason i like it right now. enjoy :-)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Aristotle | The law is reason free from passion. |
Ethan Allen | Reason the only oracle of man. |
Jean Jacques Rousseau | Childhood is the sleep of reason. |
John Milton | Reason also is choice. |
Marcus T. Cicero | Let reason govern desire. |
| Reason should direct and appetite obey. | |
Marquis de Vauvenargues | Emotion has taught mankind to reason. |
| Emotions have taught mankind to reason. | |
Martin Luther | Reason is the enemy of faith. |
Thomas Paine | Time makes more converts than reason. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Magna Carta | 1215 | We will not by reason of any small serjeancy which anyone may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he holds of another lord by knight's service. (reference) |
John Locke | 1690 | By the same reason may a man in the state of nature punish the lesser breaches of that law. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Amendment to US Constitution | 1795-2021 | The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax. (reference) |
Marbury v. Madison | 1803 | If any other construction would render the clause inoperative, that is an additional reason for rejecting such other construction, and for adhering to their obvious meaning. (reference) |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | The selfish misconception that induces you to transform into eternal laws of nature and of reason, the social forms springing from your present mode of production and form of property-historical relations that rise and disappear in the progress of production -- this misconception you share with every ruling class that has preceded you. (reference) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | The tribunal may, if necessary, fix also the amount which it may deem just should be paid by reason of the use of the rights during the war. (reference) |
Winston S. Churchill | 1946 | For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. ("Iron Curtain" Speech) |
United Nations | 1948 | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (reference) |
Brown v. Board of Education | 1954 | An additional reason for the inconclusive nature of the Amendment's history, with respect to segregated schools, is the status of public education at that time. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Mr. Knightley had another reason for avoiding a table in the shade |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | Mein Herr was ready with a quite unanswerable reason. |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason why he had had such a wild and successful life that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | The reason is not far to seek |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He attached himself to none, for the excellent reason that he fled before all. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | In a vague way he understood that his father was in trouble and that this was the reason why he himself had not been sent back to Clongowes |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | While we reason here A royal battle might be won and lost |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | The Queen observed my coldness, and when the farmer was gone out of the apartment, asked me the reason. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | It requires so much closer attention to the habits of the birds, that, if for that reason only, I have been willing to omit the gun. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | One important reason has to do with genetics. (references) | |
The exact reason for this overgrowth is not known. (references) | ||
BPD does not develop in all infants for the same reason. (references) | ||
Business | The key reason is fast growth in demand for the internet. (references) | |
One reason for low demand is that Mexico’s corn production has not been growing. (references) | ||
This should not be seen as a reason that other areas do not present good business opportunities. (references) | ||
Children | Turkmenistan | The ostensible reason for the reduction was to increase salaries for the remaining teachers; however, past similar promises have been unfulfilled, and teachers routinely were paid 2 to 3 months late. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Equatorial Guinea | Nze Nzongo cited Ndong's mismanagement of La Opinion as his reason. (references) |
Oman | Government censorship decisions are changed periodically without apparent reason. (references) | |
Discrimination | Estonia | The Constitution prohibits discrimination for any reason; however, reports continued of discrimination against ethnic Russian residents. (references) |
Brazil | There continued to be reports of violence against homosexuals, although it was not clear always that the victim's sexual orientation was the reason for the attack. (references) | |
Economic History | France | This is one reason for France's high unemployment rate. (references) |
Human Rights | Albania | Each side cites the failures of the other as the reason criminals avoid imprisonment. (references) |
Djibouti | On February 25, police shot and killed Asari Mohmed Moussa; the reason was unknown at year's end. (references) | |
Russia | In several cases, elderly Russian civilians were killed for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity. (references) | |
Minorities | Macedonia | Widespread discrimination was the principal reason the ethnic-Albanian insurgency attracted broad support among ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. (references) |
Moldova | The law went into effect on October 19. On October 23, the President withdrew citizenship, without specifying a reason, from a Lebanese national who earlier had been granted Moldovan citizenship by then-President Lucinschi. (references) | |
Political Economy | CHINA | In effect, this allows a local official to block license approval without offering an explicit reason. (references) |
Political Rights | Liberia | Municipalities and chieftaincies are supposed to elect their own officials, but elections, postponed in 1998 due to lack of funds and disorganization, were not held by year's end for the same reason. (references) |
Trade | Philippines | Much of the reason for this comes from complaints against imports by local producers. (references) |
Norway | The stated reason for this is that many false "CE" labels appear on toys (in particular) exported from the PRC. An internal control will be required and Norwegian authorities will perform sporadic controls. (references) | |
Travel | Uae | These bans, which are rigidly enforced, prevent the individual from leaving the UAE for any reason until the matter is resolved. (references) |
Saudi Arabia | The letter should name the visa applicant, passport number, company name and address, approximate dates of visit, and reason for visit (e.g. business meetings). (references) | |
Peru | There is a high incidence of traffic accidents in Peru, frequently involving mini-buses and buses, for which reason public ground transportation is not recommended. (references) | |
Women | Saint Lucia | If the victim chooses for any reason not to press charges, the Government cannot bring a case. (references) |
Cameroon | Partly for this reason, some employers required a husband's permission before they hired a woman. (references) | |
Syria | One preliminary academic study suggested that domestic violence is the largest single reason for divorces, and that such abuse is more prevalent among the less-educated and persons who live in rural areas. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Oman | The law stipulates that "it is absolutely forbidden to provoke a strike for any reason." Labor unrest is rare. (references) |
Philippines | By law the reason for striking must be relevant to the labor contract or the law, and all means of reconciliation must be exhausted. (references) | |
Tajikistan | Further, there is reason to believe that certain figures in the Government act as patrons or protectors of individuals who are involved directly in trafficking. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | EXCESS, n. In morals, an indulgence that enforces by appropriate penalties the law of moderation. Hail, high Excess -- especially in wine, To thee in worship do I bend the knee Who preach abstemiousness unto me -- My skull thy pulpit, as my paunch thy shrine. Precept on precept, aye, and line on line, Could ne'er persuade so sweetly to agree With reason as thy touch, exact and free, Upon my forehead and along my spine. At thy command eschewing pleasure's cup, With the hot grape I warm no more my wit; When on thy stool of penitence I sit I'm quite converted, for I can't get up. Ungrateful he who afterward would falter To make new sacrifices at thine altar! |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Ann Richards | When you got it all, you have to produce. You can't point to anybody else as being the reason it isn't happening. It's all in your lap. |
Erin Runnion | May save some lives, that's what I'm saying. That it has to save lives. That's the only reason that this could happen. That the previous victims get to sleep better at night because he's gone. And just the knowledge that nobody else will be hurt by him. |
Heather Mills McCartney | People like Charlie Parker, Cannonball. David Sanborn was the reason I started playing the saxophone. |
Jack Lemmon | I'm very lucky. I don't have one, and there's a very good reason. First of all, I've had so many, really wonderful parts. I mean, any actor would just love to have one of so many of those in his career. |
James Lipton | I criticize those critics. The reason being that they're doing one of the worst things that ever can be done to an actor, which is to say, Look, you do what we like you to do or else. |
Jermaine Jackson | See my whole reason for being here is to sort of set the record straight and answer things that are sort of cloudy in one's mind that the media has misconstrued. |
Pamela Anderson | Well, I believe in God. I definitely believe that He is the reason that I've gotten through everything that I have. And I go to church. My kids go to Sunday school. And it's definitely a part of my life. |
Rush Limbaugh | Rush has always said the reason the world hates us all comes down to economics. |
Samantha Geimer | There didn't seem to be any reason for her to go. I mean, he was just taking pictures, and nobody had any idea anything like this would ever happen. And I mean, she's never gotten over it. She feels terrible. |
Senator Joseph Biden | So the reason why I disagree with the idea of eliminating Arafat as part of the equation is that's who the Palestinians have chosen. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | In some, indeed, alarms were at first conceived, until they were banished by reason and patriotism. |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | But his imagination is wild and extravagant, escapes incessantly from every restraint of reason and taste, and, in the course of its vagaries, leaves a tract of thought as incoherent and eccentric, as is the course of a meteor through the sky. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Nor have we less reason to felicitate ourselves on the position of our political than of our commercial concerns. |
Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | For this reason we have sought to insure that in the peacemaking the smaller nations shall have a voice as well as the larger states. |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | Therefore, we must display, reason, and refrain from such steps. |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | So let there be light and reason in our relations. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem. |
George Bush | 1989-1993 | One reason is that you're patriots, and you want the best for your country. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | Most of my fellow Americans probably didn't know that, and there's a good reason. |
George W. Bush | 2001-2005 | I believe there is a reason that history has matched this nation with this time. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Reason" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.81% of the time. "Reason" is used about 18,366 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.81% | 18,331 | 506 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.1% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.08% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Total | 100.00% | 18,366 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "reason" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Reason | Last name | 1,000 | 8,996 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "reason": accessible to reason ♦ age of reason ♦ amenable to reason ♦ appeal to reason ♦ bereft of reason ♦ beyond reason ♦ bring to reason ♦ by reason of ♦ come to reason ♦ devoid of reason ♦ endowed with reason ♦ for a very good reason ♦ for no apparent reason ♦ for no particular reason ♦ for no reason ♦ for no reason at all ♦ for some reason ♦ for some reason or other ♦ for that reason ♦ for that very reason ♦ for the reason ♦ For the reason that ♦ for this reason ♦ for what reason ♦ for which reason ♦ good reason ♦ impervious to reason ♦ In all reason ♦ In reason ♦ innocent of reason ♦ It is reason ♦ it stands to reason ♦ it stands to reason that ♦ listen to reason ♦ lose one's reason ♦ main reason ♦ make smb. listen to reason ♦ not without reason ♦ out of reason ♦ point out the reason ♦ reason about smth. ♦ reason away ♦ reason down ♦ reason for change ♦ reason in a circle ♦ reason in circles ♦ reason into ♦ reason of smth. ♦ reason out ♦ reason out of ♦ reason smb. out ♦ reason to ♦ reason upon smth. ♦ reason what ♦ reason why ♦ reason why copy ♦ reason with ♦ retain one's reason ♦ rhyme or reason ♦ spurious reason ♦ stand to reason ♦ stands to reason ♦ subsidiary reason ♦ that's the reason for you to go first ♦ the feast of reason and the flow of soul ♦ the reason ♦ the voice of reason ♦ there is no reason to doubt his statement ♦ there is reason to expect ♦ there must be a reason ♦ to stand to reason ♦ uncover the reason ♦ unknown reason ♦ valid reason ♦ whatever reason he may have ♦ with good reason ♦ with greater reason ♦ with in reason ♦ with more reason ♦ with reason ♦ within reason ♦ without any reason ♦ without reason ♦ without rhyme or reason ♦ woman's reason ♦ yield to reason. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "reason": reason-able, reason-action, reason-based, reason-giving, reason-sense, reason-the, reason-why. | |
Ending with "reason": ill-reason, non-reason. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
reason | 1,031 | 25 lyrics reason | 45 |
2.5 reason | 195 | bridget jones the edge of reason | 45 |
reason 2.0 | 168 | lifetime reason season | 44 |
25 reason | 151 | edge of reason | 38 |
reason refill | 127 | a reason to love | 36 |
propellerhead reason | 116 | reason tutorial | 36 |
25 lyrics nivea reason | 114 | iraq reason war | 36 |
divorce reason | 98 | missed period reason | 34 |
hair loss reason | 85 | texas is the reason | 32 |
a reason to believe | 82 | 8 accept business main reason should why | 31 |
hundred reason | 78 | civil reason war | 29 |
age of reason | 75 | some odd reason | 29 |
reason why i love you | 74 | reason for abortion | 28 |
reason 2 | 67 | reason music | 28 |
propellerheads reason | 59 | everything happens for a reason | 27 |
reason software | 52 | miscarriage reason | 25 |
25 nivea reason | 49 | reason to quit smoking | 25 |
free reason refill | 48 | top 10 reason | 24 |
i love reason | 48 | late period reason | 24 |
reason magazine | 46 | lyrics reason | 23 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language |