Reasoning

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Reason \Rea"son\ (r[=e]"z'n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Reasoned}
     (r[=e]"z'nd); 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Stand still, that I may reason with you, before the
              Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord. --1
                                                    Sam. xii. 7.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To converse; to compare opinions. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Reasoning \Rea"son*ing\, n.
     1. The act or process of adducing a reason or reasons; manner
        of presenting one's reasons.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. That which is offered in argument; proofs or reasons when
        arranged and developed; course of argument.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His reasoning was sufficiently profound. --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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 the parts
            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 reply; you deny, 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.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  85 Moby Thesaurus words for "reasoning":
     Vernunft, abstract thought, act of thought, analysis, analytic,
     arguments, brain, brains, brainwork, cerebral, cerebration,
     cogitation, conceit, conception, conceptive, conceptual,
     conceptualization, creative thought, discourse of reason,
     discursive reason, endopsychic, esprit, excogitation, explanation,
     explication, gray matter, head, headpiece, headwork,
     heavy thinking, hypothesis, idea, ideation, imageless thought,
     intellect, intellection, intellectual, intellectual exercise,
     intellectual faculty, intellectualization, intelligence,
     intelligent, internal, logic, mens, mental, mental act,
     mental capacity, mental labor, mental process, mentality,
     mentation, mind, noesis, noetic, noological, nous, phrenic,
     postulate, power of reason, premises, psyche, psychic, psychologic,
     ratio, ratiocination, ratiocinative, ratiocinatory, rational,
     rationale, rationality, rationalization, reason, reasoning faculty,
     reasons, smarts, spiritual, straight thinking, subjective, theory,
     thinking, thinking aloud, thinking out, thought, understanding