About Us
My pen name is Virginia Vallee. This web site, SoundRationalThinking.com, is part of a research project on elemental rationality that, with help, I have been doing for many years. The goal of this study is to encourage people to upgrade their rational skills enough so as to promote civil discourse, improve negotiation quality and advance our abilities to achieve comity in all walks of life.
This project recognizes that there already exists
substantial rational acuity in our society but, at the same time, points out
there are pitfalls to avoid. Clearly, there is room for improvement. We have
much to gain in every aspect of life by developing our rational abilities,
individually and collectively.
For a long time I have been interested in the philosophical
foundations of science and morality. This questioning mentality started while I
was a youngster and is the main reason I obtained degrees in chemistry and
biology. I was curious.
In college, while grabbling with the fundamentals of
science, I took a course in "The Trivium" where I learned the
connection between intensional syllogistic logic and modern scientific
research. This fed my interest in the development of rational philosophy. After
graduating in 1951, I married, and we began raising a family. To maintain my
research skills and satisfy my curiosity, I embarked on an intensive study of
the history of logic and rationality. This 'logic project' has been my passion
ever since. In the process I read thousands of books on the subject, attended
numerous classes and lectures, took part in book clubs and acquired reams of
information.
One of the avenues of my research that proved unusually
fruitful was an in-depth study of the logical education of the Founders of the
In my research, I studied many of the same books the
founders encountered in their education and imagined how they might have been
affected in their particular settings. I concentrated particularly on logic
publications or books with substantive logical content. These texts by
different authors contained similar basic ideas of rational requirements.
Research on the logical education of the US Founders was
rewarding. Patterns became clear and several theories with interesting
possibilities came to my mind. One theory I have developed with a good deal of
success is that there is a direct relation between the quality of rational
theory learned in primary education and the ability later for the same people
to reason together and solve problems constructively.
My research showed the US Founders to be a diverse group of
people with widely different world views and opinions. The rational style of
Colonial America allowed this assorted group to function productively. Not only
did they learn the same basic requirements of right reason but the guidelines
they adopted were remarkably sound. This web site is a part of my research in
defending this theory.
In related research, I studied other thinking methods that
run counter to affirmative rationality I found generally shared by the US
Founders. These counter-view methods tended to produce societies where people
were less able to reason together constructively in governmental matters.
Since I advocate that people make a personal commitment to
affirmative rationality, this site concentrates on the affirmative rational
point of view. I often refer to affirmative rationality as root affirmations
and those operations that run counter to affirmative reason as root divergences
or counter-view evaluations.
My plan is to begin by explaining affirmative rationality
and suggest how to recognize the
rudimentary requirements that must be met for rationality to be sound. This
requires a discussion of rational requirements point by point and how to make
adjustments where needed. When done well, this process is feasible and fun.
However, many propositions are involved and they need to be addressed one by
one. To do a credible job requires attention to detail. As basics become clear,
we are in a position to better evaluate contrary mode operations. It is a give
and take process where we learn from each other and examine results in practice.
We can do this because we have natural commonsense abilities as helpmates.
The root affirmative method advocated herein is speculative
with an eye on the credible. 'Credible speculation' refers to procedures in
which principles are proposed for consideration, examined for results and
explored for probable consequences. As principles are well substantiated, they
become more and more reliable but not absolute.
Credible speculation recognizes that there are gaps between
what is said, what is heard and what actually is. These are inherent
difficulties in language. The root affirmative thinker presumes truth is firm
and is to be discovered and not constructed by human genius. Credible
speculation takes into account human limitations.
The definitions in this study are stipulated with care.
Carefully stipulated definitions are terms defined specifically for a
particular study so as to avoid the fallacy of equivocation. This does not mean
the stipulator considers other definitions wrong. Stipulation simply means that
the stipulator aims to restrict usage of certain terms to the definition
specified in a controlled setting.
The root affirmative method also emphasizes propositional
veracity and the importance of deductive validity.
Writing from a credible-speculative point of view aims to
use carefully stipulated definitions, propositional veracity and deductive
integrity is about as far from being dogmatic as one can get. This presentation
is a discourse open to modification. It is not a manifesto to be promulgated.
Obviously credible speculation that aims to use stipulated
definitions, propositional veracity and deductive integrity is not new. This is
what affirmative rational philosophers have tried to do since antiquity.
Because philosophers are limited humans, they fall short of their goal but the
effort raises the quality of their product. Dedicated rational affirmative
philosophers are willing to learn from their mistakes and make corrections.
These are commonsense standards that usually go without saying.
In discussing the subject of 'rationality' the issues
involved are serious. I hope you will find something here of use in your own
search for ever increasing wisdom, justice and good will.
Updated Nov. 14, 2013,