more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Reason is our power of finding out true propositions.
Gist of Idea
Reason is our power of finding out true propositions
Source
Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 4: The Moral Sense [1728], §I)
Book Ref
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.307
A Reaction
This strikes me as a very good definition. I don't see how you can define reason without mentioning truth, and you can't believe in reason if you don't believe in truth. The concept of reason entails the concept of a good reason.