How reliable is human reason as a guide to truth and the meaning of life?

Question

Basically, can we trust our logic, senses and intuition to tell us what is true? If so, why? If not, why not? What does this mean for the human quest to find the purpose of life?

Answer 1

If we cannot, what is there? All religion is just human because the supernatural does not exist. So what is there?

So we have is reason, best to learn how to use it.

Answer 2

Human logic is a very good guide.  So yes we can trust it, because logic is a science that deals with the rules and tests of sound thinking and proof by reasoning.  What misguides us are our emotions, we may just feel so emotionally strongly about something that we just don't want to admit that something is true or false.  This means nothing for the human quest to find the purpose of life.  God has already told us the purpose when he wrote the Bible...its to bring glory and honor to him.

Answer 3

human reasoning is very unreliable because it will always try to assert an opinion. therefore it is unreliable as it is favours a certain argument and then tries to prove it right.

Answer 4

Human reason might be characterized by such thinkers as Descartes who, also as Cartesius, offers lots of information, facts, thinking and statistics about The Map.  Descartes takes a look at the map, thinks about it a lot, uses reason to calculate a distance or height and then declares that it is logical that he is real somehow because he has used thought as proof of his existence as “I am”.   Wow!  What a stretch!  Next Decartes  suggests that these facts, knowledge and thinking can go in our own portfolio which, as metaphor, would be about our personality and core existence.  In this kind of thinking you get lots of When and Where but zero Why.  Decartes has shown us clearly how a map is definitely not the territory.  

Wisdom is the Why.  Why, for example, do certain people only limit themselves to logic in explaining life and others are left hungry for something a little more meaningful?  Is that your question here? Wisdom is in the experience or the knowing of the territory, not in the study of the map.  The same is true of our senses as they are the perceptions of the map.  Senses are conditioned by personality and the body chemistry (karmic) happening at the time.  Senses are also conditioned by the past and by expectations - both maps. Thought and the senses can give us lots of useful information, to be sure, and that portfolio of facts is quite enough for many people.  While the first step in the Why of it is usually to think about it a lot, it is far from and illogically not the last step because you have to step off the map and directly into the territory for the Why. .

When the Buddha awakened to the meaning of life, he first thought that he would not teach what he had understood because it defied any logic and would not be understood.  Fortunately there were others who instantly recognised his attainment asked him to teach.  The rest is history.  But beware because history is not the territory either.  Territory is pure simple unconditioned and absolutely impersonal being that is reallity and is the illogical place where wisdom eventually locates the seeker of the meaning of life.  

It is understood by those sages of great wisdom that all thinking, logic and the senses are like objects arising and passing away in consciousness.   That which always abides as the self  (the Why) is the only true and unchanging reality.  It is always there right alongside all the rest that is illusion. The meaning of life can find you if you step off the map.

Answer 5

If we don't know if we can trust our logic, then does it matter if we can truly be logical?  If human reason were reliable, life's biggest question would not be "What is the meaning of life?".  But then again, when it comes to life's purpose, the only truth that matters is what's true for you.  So you'd have to rely on your own senses and intuition.  Of course, the more experiences you have, your perceptions of what is true and logical will shift.  You probably have different ideas about the meaning of life than when you were a kid, right?  We definitely don't all agree on life's truths.  Human reason is flawed, and each human reasons differently.  So each of our quests will take us to different conclusions, even in our own lifetimes.

Answer 6

I would not lump ituition along with logic and the senses. Intuition tells us silently but clearly that there IS a meaning to life, but logic and the senses are found to be incompetent in dealing with the mystery, let alone in solving it.

Answer 7

Truth and meaning of life are beyond human reason.

We can participate in Truth by becoming one with it

but we cannot know it by reason.

Answer 8

I wish I had more time to answer this beautiful question, as it is only few and far between that come along to ask the question of life, or the question of the meanings of life, with this much interest and care. This is true that we have all the faculties of reasonable sense, logic, and intuition in the mind to guide us along, to enlighten us along the way, to direct, to benefit us, and even to amuse us and also to save us from harm along the arduous paths of our search, but there is nothing whatsoever in the realms of our reason neither in logic and nor in instinct or intuition to provide us with the ultimate answer to anything to the best of our satisfaction.

But within the very nature or our mind, of its enquiry, and by the very fact of this nature, is the answer to your question. If we were to find the ultimate, the destination, the end, then all the paths leading up to that destination, paths of life, and all things that we associated with those paths of life, including our rational faculties, would be meaningless. All our faculties therefore are to enhance life by igniting our passion for inquiry, by augmenting our sense of dissatisfaction, and therefore intrigue. Life and its things therefore are not for us to find but to be on the way of finding ceaselessly all the time. We are never good at aspiring for things we have, however valuable they might be, but we are in fact too good at desiring things we do not have, things that are well within the reach of our mind, but not within its grasp yet. The glorious heavens above and peace on earth, our quest for excellence, beauty and truth all are to give us an inkling of meanings we ultimately search for in our life.

Then just as I have said so, I never have enough time to answer a good question fully, or to any good degree of satisfaction to myself, I therefore will have to cut it short here. I let you proceed and continue on your everlasting search for the meanings of life, for there is life in doing so.

Answer 9

That's the only guide we have so reliable or not we should use it

Answer 10

If logic is applied then it is very reliable........

Answer 11

To an extent it is very reliable.But not fully do to its subjective nature.As humans we are full of faults as well as strengths.For this reason we can not assume that our logic is undeniable.Our senses can be easily fooled and our intuition often fails.But they all are our best tools for the situation you purposed.So we will have to learn how to utilize them in the right way,so as to not be misled in our search for answers.

Answer 12

If we use instinct and logic based on the principles of nature then everything in our lives should be okay.

Answer 13

yes sir it is realiable to follow your sense and feelings..if it is truely yours ..

if  man born alone in an island so he will follow his sense and instinct he will do good things and feel happy and he wiil do bad thing in hide and feel uncomfortable ,,this is the nature .and this is the GOD  creation..

but if you are already affected by others' ideas so will have false feelings and false logic ..

Answer 14

Intuition is not a measure of reason. The sixth sense is powered by our fears and desires and bears little relation to reason. Senses and intuition are the guiding factors driven by will, itself driven by need, fear etc.

Reason is largely infallible in that it measures with rational critique a given predicament or situation, its many positive and negative variables, outcomes, associated and influencing factors etc...

Mankind with a sound sense of judgment and reason is able to trust his intuition, until one learns to trust ones intuition, usually by experience and observation, it is preferable to seek affirmation, opinion or view from trusted and reliable sources ..

Answer 15

logic is good, but youve got to remember that one person might consider something as logical, and another person will think its completely illogical.  what's 'logical' to us is based on our own personal experiences, and so may only work for that person alone, and someone else will never understand that person.

so maybe the purpose of life is perceived differently by everyone.