REASONABILITY IN THINKING by Fr. Michael Moga, SJ

Principle of Reason: everything must have a reason, cause, or ground

Leibniz's two types of truth:
1. Self-evident propositions as found in mathematics
2. Factual propositions that arise from a particular historical situation'
- explaining the reasonableness of some factual happening in human life
- In Leibniz, we are forced to deal with the presence of occurrences in nature and human life which are sometimes irregular and surprising
- There must be an explanation which will satisfy our human minds, those happenings should makes sense
- Although such making sense may not be fully evident to us here and now, we presume that somehow, somewhere, there must be an explanation
- It is an awareness of the historical character of human life and within that awareness, a sensitivity to the factual events.

Forms of demands and awareness
1. Detective Story
- the clues
2. Science
- it presumes that there are reasons for the facts that we experience
- "Why did life evolve on the planet earth?"
-We affirm that there must be answers somewhere, out scientific world must be reasonable.
3. Common Human Experience
- situations which challenge us in an individual way
- "Why do I feel sick ? Why is there unhappiness in my family? Why is it so difficult to earn a living?
- Such a seeking for solutions to life's problems presumes, in an implicit way, that there are reasons for such problems and there are reasonable solutions for those problems
- We may not full understand those reasons and those solutions, but we presume (demand) that they be there.
4. Boredom
- Situation that we are restless and we reach out for something more
- Our instinctive feeling is: there is something wrong with our present situation which lacks full meaning
- There must be more to life, life should be more meaningful- we find it acceptable
- Somehow we sense that life must include in its possibilities an experience which is deeper than this boredom
5.Ultimate explanation for one's Personal Existence
- "What is human life all about? Why am I alive? Is my life only a chance accident caused by the love of my parents?"
- Can we sense such an explanation for each of our personal human lives?
Such an explanation has not been given to us in a clear way, but in our thinking we somehow demand that it be "there" somewhere
- But we can never hope achieve an absolutely full and transparent explanation
6. The validity of this principle of rationality would affirm Leibniz that God's Creative Activity must be FULLY RATIONAL
- The world that He created must be the best possible world
- There would be no rational justification for God to create anything but the best
- If God caused something to happen, then that happening must be perfect
- What reason would God have for causing something which was less than the best?

Conclusion:
What happens in the natural world happens for a reason. Rational people (including God) act for a reason. Rationality controls nature and the way people act

Questionable Rationality
- Is such thinking valid?
- The reason for this resistance and reaction is that much in our lived human worlds and in our experience of the natural world around us does not make clear sense
- Our attempts to search for sense or to demand it are doomed to failure
- No matter how much we seek reasonability in the human world and in the natural world, there is much there which is simply not reasonable

3 areas of Human Life which seems to be beyond Strict Rationality
1. Realm of Love
- Love that is found in family life and friendship, people are motivated by love to set up a family and they are inspired to make many sacrifices to ensure the happiness of those families
- Yes it is rational because human life is enriched when individuals are inspired to make efforts to foster relationships
- No it is not rational "the heart has its reason which reason know not"
- We give up our privacy, we make sacrifices, new obligations arise in our lives
- The value of such forms of love may be real but its reasonableness is not fully evident
2. Religion
- It transcend our usual logical worlds
- Beyond rationality of Cross
- God's plan to bring salvation to the human race necessarily involves suffering
- No full reason why the crucifixion of Jesus had to be
- In trusting faith we accept something and enter into a way of living which we do not fully understand and cannot fully explain
3. The Self
- The individual self has been given to each of us and it is a precious gift
- Others may not understand why I live the way that I do

Synthesis
- Such a world (Love, Religion, Self) is characterized by rationalities which are individual.
- To understand them, we must enter into an individual world

Reaction
- Leibniz claims that these must be the best possible because they are created by an all-wise and all-powerful God
- But often we question them for we find it sometimes meaningless and irrational
- It is possible, however, to find a type of meaning in the presence of such imperfections. For imperfection can provoke rich and fruitful activity in human lives
- we find it meaningful to overcome our lack of basic skills
- The battle to overcome such flaws fills our lives with rich meaning
- Challenges make our lives meaningful as they guide us to be wise and strong
- Problems can motivate us to spend out lives seeking to improve our social situation
- We live in an imperfect situation: in our human lives, in the natural world, and in our society
- Despite all of these, in many ways it gives us a reason to be active and to lead a meaningful life.
- With all of its problems and challenges, it provokes energetic and meaningful human activity