Anthony Laden, “Reasoning: A Social Picture” (Oxford UP, 2012)
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What is the main premise of Anthony Laden’s “Reasoning: A Social Picture”?
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Welcome to the New Books in Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talise. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter. Today My guest is Professor Anthony Simon Leyden. We'll be talking about his new book. Reasoning a social picture. which was just published by Oxford University Press. Tony Leyden is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We typically think of reasoning as a process that occurs within an individual mind. aimed at demonstrating the correctness of some proposition. We reason, that is, in order to figure out what to believe, so that we may then decide what to do. Reasoning in this sense has as its objective its own termination.
We reason in order to reach a conclusion. And once a conclusion is reached, reasoning is no longer needed. In his new book, Professor Leyden challenges this common view of reasoning. He argues that this standard picture of reasoning is is insufficiently attentive to the respects in which reasoning is something that we do together. And not only for the purpose of reaching conclusions. That is, we reason sometimes in order to structure and shape our relationships with others. On this social picture of reasoning that Leyden develops the Reasoning is a matter of exchanging invitations and proposals. In an ongoing interaction among persons who Who share a common but evolving space of reasons. In the course of drawing his social picture of reasoning
Leyden addresses a broad range of topics in philosophy of language and mind. Ethics and social and political philosophy. The result is a highly compelling and deeply engaging exercise of philosophy. So we turn to the interview. Hello Anthony Leyden.
Hi Bob.
How are you today?
I'm very well. How are you?
Oh, I'm doing fine. Thank you so much for joining us today on New Books in Philosophy.
Well, thanks for inviting me. I'm looking forward to it.
Excellent. So today I am talking with uh uh Tony Leighton. About his new book Reasoning A Social Picture Which has just been published, I mean I think published within the last couple of weeks. uh with Oxford University Press. Now this book attempts um In under three hundred pages, I should add, to displace A standard and I think philosophically familiar view of reasoning. and suggest an alternate picture of reasoning as something that is intrinsically social. So Leyden's ambitions in this book are high, and uh I'm happy to say that uh the level of achievement is high as well in the book. Uh this is a thoroughly readable and compelling book. Um And it speaks to uh core issues in a range of philosophical areas that
are not frequently brought together, including philosophy of language.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main premise of Anthony Laden’s “Reasoning: A Social Picture”?
0:00–10:17
2
How does Laden contrast the traditional “standard picture” of reasoning with his social picture?
10:17–19:51
3
Why does Laden use the marriage proposal scene from *Pride and Prejudice* as an example of reasoning?
19:51–28:39
4
What are the key differences between the “standard” and “social” pictures of reasoning?
28:39–37:50
5
How does the “authority of connection” differ from the traditional “authority of command” in reasoning?
37:50–46:26
6
What role do conversational norms and game‑like rules play in the social picture of reasoning?
46:26–55:34
7
How does the social picture of reasoning reshape our understanding of democratic deliberation?
55:34–1:03:44
8
What educational reforms does Laden suggest to cultivate the virtue of reasonableness?
1:03:44–1:12:17
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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