Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix is strongly linked to the French Revolution (Image: Wikimedia Commons)





Video: Linguist Noam Chomsky talks about reason and exaggerated claims.





Video: Penrose talks about when we need to sidestep reason





Video: Bioethicist Tom Shakespeare talks about why reason doesn’t tell a good story. Advertisement

From religious fundamentalism to pseudoscience, it seems that forces are attacking the Enlightenment world view – characterised by rational, scientific thinking – from all sides. The debate seems black and white: you’re either with reason, or you’re against it. But is it so simple? In a series of special essays, our contributors look more carefully at some of the most provocative charges against reason. The results suggest that for all the Enlightenment has achieved, we still have a lot of work to do.

Editorial: How to make reason more reasonable

How humans dared to know

The 21st-century passion for “Enlightenment values” owes a lot to the 18th century. Philosopher A. C. Grayling discusses where those values come from and what they mean today

1: Reason stands against values and morals

Shaping a moral and humane world requires more than reason, says Archbishop Rowan Williams

2: No one actually uses reason

If we had to think logically about everything we did, we’d never do anything at all, says neuroscientist Chris Frith. Watch a related video

3: I hear “reason”, I see lies

Science is routinely co-opted by governments and corporations to subvert people’s ability to make their own decisions, say sociologist David Miller and linguist Noam Chomsky. Watch a related video and hear the full interview (28MB MP3).

4: Reason excludes creativity and intuition

Reason is lost without art, says Turner prizewinner Keith Tyson. Watch a related video.

5: Whose reason is it anyway?

Real people don’t live their lives according to cold rationality, says bioethicist Tom Shakespeare. Watch a related video.

6: Reason destroys itself

Even in formal mathematics, reason breaks its own rules, says mathematician Roger Penrose. Watch a related video.

7: Reason is just another faith

Unconditional reliance on a single authority is never sensible, says philosopher Mary Midgley.

EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE

Lee Smolin on negotiating diversity

Mary Midgley on reason and scepticism

Tom Shakespeare on a world based on reason

Peter Singer on science and morality

ARCHIVE

Donna Haraway on human exceptionalism (18 June 2008)

Robert Matthews on defining science (7 May 2008)

David Malone on addiction to certainty (4 August 2007)

Dan Hind on the true threats to reason (19 January 2008)

REVIEWS

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore (18 July 2007)

Earth in the Balance by Al Gore (1 August 1992)

Doubt is their Product by David Michaels (11 June 2008)

The Political Mind by George Lakoff (28 May 2008)

Articles by Tom Shakespeare, Keith Tyson and Noam Chomsky as told to Mike Holderness, Liz Else and Ivan Semeniuk. Reason special edited by Liz Else, Mike Holderness and Jo Marchant.