The Domain-Specificity of Reason

Abstract

The widespread interest in the social sciences in local knowledge and practical skill is reflected in a host of terms, among them situated reasoning, bricolage, mētis, habitus, and indigenous knowledge. This paper introduces a program of studies that seeks to examine the embeddedness of reason and reasoning in domains of mundane expertise. Examples from several fields—mathematics, experimental physics, and checkers—are used to indicate that 'reason' is not a content-independent, general phenomenon, but one that is intertwined and arises within domains of skilled practice.