ABSTRACT
Reason and physical science seem to be almost identical. 'Reason' is an honorific term. In civilizations which draw on a tradition of Greek philosophy it is thought that religious beliefs and practices, and moral beliefs and practices too, in order to be reasonable must be open to examination by the intellectual activities Plato commended. By the twentieth century, empiricism had overtaken rationalism in popular esteem, and people were saying that it would be reasonable to believe in the existence of God or a life after death only if these things could be proved empirically or at least subjected to empirical tests. Just at present physical science seems to some people the greatest achievement of human thought, and its methods the best way of arriving at truth. A common secular view is that the ability to discern the best course comes from experience and from knowledge of the customs and traditions of one's society.
