logos and reason

Message Share Topic Printable Version Google Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks reddit Facebook MySpace Newsvine Furl Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic

The Christian bible in John I saying "In the beginning was the word".  
 This part of the bible is Greek and the Greek word for "word" should be "logos".  Logos is thought of as constituting the controlling principle of universe.   That is, logos is what gives the universe form.   Logos is a better word than the word "god", because it does not have a personality, and is not mythological being, that we have to have faith in order to believe in.  We can study logos through any of the sciences and the faculty reason.   This is very important to understanding the reasoning behind democracy, and how democracy brings man to the highest morality.   
Wikipedia defines reason like this:

The faculty of reason, rationality, or the faculty of discursive reason (in opposition to "intuitive reason") is a mental ability found in human beings and normally considered to be a definitive characteristic of human nature.^[1] It is closely associated with such human activities as language, science, art, mathematics and philosophy.
Reason, like habit or intuition, is a means by which thinking comes 
from one idea to a related idea. But more specifically, it is the way rational beings propose and consider explanations concerning cause and effect, true and false, and what is good or bad. In contrast to reason as an abstract noun, a reason is a consideration which explains or justifies some event, phenomenon or behaviour.^[2] The ways in which human beings reason through an argument are the subject of inquiries in the field of logic.
Reason is closely identified with the ability to self-consciously change beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and institutions, and therefore with the capacity for freedom and self-determination.^[3]
It is through reason we can know morals, and with knowledge of morals that we can have liberty.  Socrates stressed the importance of awakening our conscience, because when we understand the relationship of cause and effect, we are compelled to do the right thing.   This is what makes democracy and liberty possible.   
However, within logos is emotion and emotion can distort our reasoning, and compel us to do wrong.   This requires us to investigate the nature of our character and what steps can be taken to enhance our strength of character, so we might avoid wrong reasoning and wrong action.   

Edited by Athena - 18-Apr-2011 at 18:00