ABSTRACT
When did reasoning, as an explicit “thinking about thinking,” begin to impact our conceptualizations of nature, science, language, mathematics, the arts, cause and effect, truth and falsehood, and what is good or bad? For some, this may be a strange question, since we assume that the ability of human beings to establish and verify facts and to justify practices, institutions, and beliefs defines our very nature. However, a careful examination of the historical record indicates that reasoning, as an explicit and disciplined attempt to hone cognition and apply intellect, was a postbicameral innovation. Moreover, it is deeply implicated in aspects of conscious interiority.
