Editing Reason (section)

==Etymology and related words==
In the [[English language]] and other modern [[Languages of Europe|European languages]], "reason", and related words, represent words which have always been used to translate Latin and classical Greek terms in their philosophical sense.
* The original [[Greek language|Greek]] term was {{lang|grc|"λόγος"}} {{transliteration|grc|[[wikt:logos#Greek|logos]]}}, the root of the modern English word "[[logic]]" but also a word that could mean for example "speech" or "explanation" or an "account" (of money handled).<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|first1=Henry George |last1=Liddell| first2=Robert |last2=Scott|title=A Greek–English Lexicon|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dlo%2Fgos|chapter=logos|year=1940|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press}}
|2={{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/logic?show=0&t=1296722456#word-history|title=Word History: logic|website=Merriam Webster Dictionary|date=14 September 2023 }}
}}</ref>
* As a philosophical term {{transliteration|grc|logos}} was translated in its non-linguistic senses in [[Latin]] as {{lang|la|[[wikt:ratio#Latin|ratio]]}}. This was originally not just a translation used for philosophy, but was also commonly a translation for {{transliteration|grc|logos}} in the sense of an account of money.<ref>{{Citation|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dratio|chapter=ratio|first1=Charlton |last1=Lewis|first2= Charles |last2=Short|title=A Latin Dictionary}}</ref>
* [[French language|French]] {{lang|fr|[[wikt:raison|raison]]}} is derived directly from Latin, and this is the direct source of the English word "reason".<ref name=mw/>

The earliest major philosophers to publish in English, such as [[Francis Bacon]], [[Thomas Hobbes]], and [[John Locke]] also routinely wrote in Latin and French, and compared their terms to Greek, treating the words "{{transliteration|grc|logos}}", "{{lang|la|ratio}}", "{{lang|fr|raison}}" and "reason" as interchangeable. The meaning of the word "reason" in senses such as "human reason" also overlaps to a large extent with "[[rationality]]" and the adjective of "reason" in philosophical contexts is normally "[[Rationality|rational]]", rather than "reasoned" or "reasonable".<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rational|title=rational|website=Merriam Webster Dictionary|date=13 September 2023 }}
|2={{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reasonable|title=reasonable|website=Merriam Webster Dictionary|date=12 September 2023 }}
}}</ref> Some philosophers, Hobbes for example, also used the word '''ratiocination'''<!--boldface per [[WP:R#PLA]]--> as a synonym for "reasoning".

In contrast to the use of "reason" as an [[Noun#Concrete nouns and abstract nouns|abstract noun]], [[Reason (argument)|''a'' reason]] is a consideration that either explains or justifies events, phenomena, or [[behavior]].<ref name=mw>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reason|title=reason|website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary|date=10 September 2023 }}</ref> Reasons justify decisions, reasons support explanations of natural phenomena, and reasons can be given to explain the actions (conduct) of individuals.

The words are connected in this way: using reason, or reasoning, means providing good reasons. For example, when evaluating a moral decision, "morality is, at the very least, the effort to guide one's conduct by ''reason''—that is, doing what there are the best reasons for doing—while giving equal [and impartial] weight to the interests of all those affected by what one does."<ref>{{cite book|last=Rachels|first=James|title=The Elements of Moral Philosophy|edition=4th|publisher=McGraw Hill|year=2002}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref>