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Reason vs Desire - What's the difference?

reason | desire |

In uncountable terms the difference between reason and desire

is that reason is rational thinking (or the capacity for it; the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition while desire is the feeling of desire.

As nouns the difference between reason and desire

is that reason is a cause while desire is someone or something wished for.

As verbs the difference between reason and desire

is that reason is to exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts while desire is to want; to wish for earnestly.

reason

English

(wikipedia reason)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A cause:
  • # That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
  • #* 1996 , (w), : Evolution and the Meanings of Life , page 198:
  • There is a reason why so many should be symmetrical: The selective advantage in a symmetrical complex is enjoyed by all the subunits
  • # A motive for an action or a determination.
  • #* 1806 , Anonymous, Select Notes to Book XXI, in, (Alexander Pope), translator, The (Odyssey) of (Homer) , volume 6 (London, F.J. du Roveray), page 37:
  • This is the reason why he proposes to offer a libation, to atone for the abuse of the day by their diversions.
  • #* 1881 , (Henry James), (The Portrait of a Lady) , chapter 10:
  • Ralph Touchett, for reasons best known to himself, had seen fit to say that Gilbert Osmond was not a good fellow
  • # An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
  • #* 1966 , (Graham Greene), ((Penguin Classics) edition, ISBN 0140184945), page 14:
  • I have forgotten the reason' he gave for not travelling by air. I felt sure that it was not the correct ' reason , and that he suffered from a heart trouble which he kept to himself.
  • (label) Rational]] thinking (or the capacity for it; the cognitive [[faculty, faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
  • * 1970 , (Hannah Arendt), On Violence (ISBN 0156695006), page 62:
  • And the specific distinction between man and beast is now, strictly speaking, no longer reason (the lumen naturale of the human animal) but science
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Magician’s brain , passage=The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason . The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.}}
  • (label) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
  • * (rfdate) (Edmund Spenser):
  • I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme.
  • Ratio; proportion.
  • (Barrow)

    Synonyms

    * (that which causes) cause * (motive for an action) rationale, motive * (thought offered in support) excuse

    Derived terms

    * age of reason * everything happens for a reason * for some reason * for no good reason * for XYZ reason * have reason * in reason * instrumental reason * reasonability * reasonable * reasonableness * reasonist * reasonless * rhyme or reason * stand to reason * unreason * with reason * within reason

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts.
  • Hence: To carry on a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to formulate and set forth propositions and the inferences from them; to argue.
  • To converse; to compare opinions.
  • To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.
  • I reasoned the matter with my friend.
  • (rare) To support with reasons, as a request.
  • To persuade by reasoning or argument.
  • to reason''' one into a belief; to '''reason one out of his plan
  • To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.
  • to reason down a passion
  • To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument.
  • to reason''' out the causes of the librations of the moon

    Derived terms

    * reasoner * reason out

    Statistics

    *

    desire

    English

    Verb

    (desir)
  • To want; to wish for earnestly.
  • * Bible, Exodus xxxiv. 24
  • Neither shall any man desire thy land.
  • * Tennyson
  • Ye desire your child to live.
  • To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts XIII:
  • And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.
  • *
  • , title=The Mirror and the Lamp , chapter=2 citation , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired .}}
  • To want emotionally or sexually.
  • To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
  • * Bible, 2 Kings iv. 28
  • Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord?
  • * Shakespeare
  • Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.
  • To require; to demand; to claim.
  • * Spenser
  • A doleful case desires a doleful song.
  • To miss; to regret.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (countable) Someone or something wished for.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}
  • (uncountable) Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.
  • (uncountable) Motivation.
  • (uncountable) The feeling of desire.
  • Synonyms

    * (one or thing wished for) wanna, want-to * (motivation) wanna, want-to

    See also

    * velleity

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * English control verbs