Limits of Reason: Philosophy Forums

Limits of Reason
What are the limits on reason if there are any at all

Limits of Reason

Blann
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Posted 10/23/09 - 12:47 AM: Subject: Limits of Reason	#1
I am just curous to find out if there are any arguments about the limits of reason. Or if any one can point me in the right direction. How would reason be limited? Is there flaws in the natural ability of logic? Has there been a push to build a better way of reasoning? Thanks

jsidelko
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Posted 10/23/09 - 11:20 AM:	#2
Godel's incompleteness theorem places a limit on mathematical reasoning.
thanatos

rigelrover
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Posted 10/23/09 - 11:23 AM:	#3
jsidelko wrote: <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> Godel's incompleteness theorem places a limit on mathematical reasoning. Not on reasoning itself, just on modeling (i.e. constructing formal systems about mathematical reasoning).
I am more interested in questions than answers; dialog than dictation. If we can reasonably believe that there is not just a breach, but a fundamentally unclosable gap between the individual mind and the ultimate nature of the reality; the primordial thing in itself, then 'true' mystery does exist.

unenlightened
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Posted 10/23/09 - 11:24 AM:	#4
The limits of reason are the limits of argument. You might be interested to look at logic, the incompleteness theorem of Goedel, or possibly some of Wittgenstein. It is difficult to see how one can reasonably question reason. It does seem to be limited to thought, in that one does not look for a reasonable snowball, or whatever... but what are you asking?
...most of our actions are the result of the past, or according to a future ideal. That's not action, that is just conformity. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

jsidelko
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Posted 10/26/09 - 03:11 PM:	#5
Gregory Chaitin in a March 2006 article in “Scientific American” pointed out that there are mathematical facts that are too complicated to be compressed into a theory. He concluded we will never find a theory of everything. There are limits to our mathematical reasoning. The title of his article was, “The Limits of Reasoning.”
thanatos

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