Can decisions be made using logic alone?

[NaCl]

I personally don't think logic can be applied to every situation that arises, but what do you think?

 

[Danyc]

I don't see why not.

 

[Tinker Grey]

What else is there?

Sometimes one reacts instinctively, but I wouldn't call that a decision. Even if you are deciding what action would make you feel good and not considering other factors, you are using logic to weigh the options.

Unfortunately, I think we act and then use logic to justify it.

 

[WonderBeat]

An arbitrary fluctuation.

 

[WonderBeat]

What else is there?

Sometimes one reacts instinctively, but I wouldn't call that a decision. Even if you are deciding what action would make you feel good and not considering other factors, you are using logic to weigh the options.

Unfortunately, I think we act and then use logic to justify it.

We don't use logic to justify anything. We use reasons, and then on those merits of reasonableness, we erect a logical scheme.

 

[Danyc]

We don't use logic to justify anything. We use reasons, and then on those merits of reasonableness, we erect a logical scheme.

Using logic is just using valid reasoning. You're making a distinction without a difference.

 

[WonderBeat]

Using logic is just using valid reasoning. You're making a distinction without a difference.

There is a difference. Valid reasoning is all theoretical, descriptive of how the world is. So a car is a car, there cannot be a car and not a car in the same sense, etc....

But reasons for actions are completely different. They are rhetorical. So I do this because it will give me fame, etc. It is not simply descriptive of what is, but calls something else.

 

[Danyc]

There is a difference. Valid reasoning is all theoretical, descriptive of how the world is. So a car is a car, there cannot be a car and not a car in the same sense, etc....

But reasons for actions are completely different. They are rhetorical. So I do this because it will give me fame, etc. It is not simply descriptive of what is, but calls something else.

I'm not following you. Could you rephrase it?

 

[Tomas de Torquemada]

logic extends ideas, but it does not originate them.


there is a kernel of things i desire or consider to be moral or correct or whatever that is unjustifiable. logic extends this kernel in a consistant fashion beyond that intial set of values, desires, whatever..


this is logic 101 dudes.

 

[Eudaimonist]

I personally don't think logic can be applied to every situation that arises, but what do you think?

I wish you had an example in mind.

I think that we apply practical reasoning skills to our life situations, and logic is merely a way of double-checking that one's reasoning does not accidentally contain any contradictions or unsupported leaps.

There may be situations in which one simply doesn't have enough information to make a well supported conclusion about what to do. One might as well flip a coin in such situations, or simply go with a course of action that reflects one's character.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[toLiJC]

this reply came a duplicate, let some moderator to delete it

 

[toLiJC]

as regards the faith, when the believers were alone i.e. without God?!, the right decision in the faith always comes from God by Jesus, so, the believers (that decide rightly) are never alone in this regard

 

[Fatesrequiem]

some situations in life can be made with logic alone, but not all things in life can be understood with logic. for example one does not simply choose to truly love a certain person. If logic was the basis for love alone i would have married yeara agom, there have been some truly amazing girls in my life that from a logical perspective i shkuld have asked them to marry me. however I did not love them. The one i do hold closest to my heart logically one wouldnt consider right for anyone.

 

[Eudaimonist]

some situations in life can be made with logic alone, but not all things in life can be understood with logic. for example one does not simply choose to truly love a certain person. If logic was the basis for love alone i would have married yeara agom, there have been some truly amazing girls in my life that from a logical perspective i shkuld have asked them to marry me. however I did not love them. The one i do hold closest to my heart logically one wouldnt consider right for anyone.

Logically, one should marry someone one loves instead of someone one doesn't.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Fatesrequiem]

ah but how does one decide which they love. . Logically one wouldnt sacrifice them selves for others sake. .... logically peo

 

[Fatesrequiem]

ple wouldnt believe in a god. but we do anyways, it doesent sound logicalto believe in an invisible being in the sky.

 

[Eudaimonist]

ah but how does one decide which they love.

No one "decides" who they love. That isn't a decision. It's a fact that may take part in a decision, for instance, who to spend one's time with.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Gracchus]

some situations in life can be made with logic alone, but not all things in life can be understood with logic. for example one does not simply choose to truly love a certain person.

There are pheromones, hormones, endorphins, oxytocins, empathic "mirror neurons" and environmental or learned response factors. Those are what cause most marriages. Sometimes, however, the pheromones, hormones, et cetera, pull us in other directions, and that is when it takes a reasoned act of will, to overcome these purely physical factors. There are all kinds of physical and chemical things labeled as love. People like to say that they "fell in love" when all that really happened was that they got sexually aroused and made a move.

If logic was the basis for love alone i would have married yeara agom, there have been some truly amazing girls in my life that from a logical perspective i shkuld have asked them to marry me. however I did not love them. The one i do hold closest to my heart logically one wouldnt consider right for anyone.

In many Christian marriage ceremonies the couple promises to love. It is not about feelings. It is not about bargains. It is only when the new has worn off the sex, and all those cute little quirks have become major annoyances that love can come in to play. Then love is the kind word when the cruel word is so attractive, the sacrifice of selfish interest, of personal comfort, the extra unrewarded or even un-noticed effort. Love means nothing when it's easy. Real love is an act of will, not because of, but in spite of, all the other factors.



Real love may be why god hasn't wiped the vicious, malicious, dishonest, selfish, hypocritical human race. Or maybe he is just waiting for us to do it ourselves, because we aren't worth the effort.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Is it rational for God to choose a benign universe if He has the power? Is morality related to logic, or are the two independent? Is it possible to be raitonal about issues involving value, such that given the facts one can conclude that the better option is worth persuing. To me this seems to be a logical truth (true by definition), if some option has more value (or is "better") then it is more worthy of persuit enough said. But is it rational to persue what is worth persuing, or do we have to abandon reason and move on to first principles somewhere along the line? Axiomatic imperative: persue the worthy - by axiomatising avoid an infinite regress or circular loop of ratiocination, or what? It seems like this modality is existentially forced upon as a basic demand, like it or not, the question being whether we can discern the worthy and achieve it. It, the basic ethical demand, seems to be part of the nature or structure of human experience and perhaps therefore beyond or before logic and reason, which is in part a response to it and means to striving towards that worhty end?

 

[Eudaimonist]

But is it rational to persue what is worth persuing

I'd say yes to that. It is precisely the worth of a value that justifies the decision to pursue that value. There is no more fundamental reason to pursue something.


eudamonia,

Mark