Effective Reasoning/Introduction

Everyone reasons. Humans are reasoning animals, if not always reasonable. Further, we homo sapiens are unique in that we reason with words and symbols that make thoughts and ideas that lead to anticipation, imagination, and the very making of human history.

To reason is to use evidence and thought to come to some conclusion. Reasoning can be done alone or in groups, but most effectively, working in groups but reflecting in private.

Unfortunately, merely being human does not provide any assurance that any of us that we will reason effectively. Reasoning does not have to produce particularly useful results, however productive reasoning is an art that requires some technical skill. Just as graphic artists have to learn about draftsmanship paint and brushwork to make paintings, so too do thinkers need some understanding of logic, language and reliable projection if they are to become leaders and help make history.

We hope to present here information that will allow almost anyone to develop both the skill and the knowledge to reason effectively, to imagine new worlds and to get things done: Somewhere between paralysis via analysis and activity instead of progress

Particularly, this Wikibook discusses informal reasoning, which includes some formal methods and some traditional approaches together with more recent philosophical and neurological understanding of effective reasoning techniques. For a complete study, take a look also at the related reference works mentioned as well as associated Wikibooks such as Introduction to Moral Reasoning and Formal Logic.