Newsflash! Mature Reasoning is going extinct!

Citizens of the United States, you should be aware of an ongoing problem that has recently become a dire situation.  Mature reasoning as we know it (or don't) is becoming extinct.  It is of upmost importance at this desperate time to be on the lookout for mature reasoning and attempt to help it to flourish.  Unfortunately, it is unlikely that anyone will find it. And if you do, it is even more unlikely that anyone will recognize it.  Complicating our situation, sightings of mature reasoning are squelched by our society's drive for answers, money, politics, and convenience.

The textbook qualifications of mature reasoning attempt to describe it, but do little to really identify it.  According to "Aims of Argument" by Crusius and Channell, mature reasoners are "well-informed, open to criticism, argue with their audience in mind, and know their argument's context."  Mature reasoning utilizes rhetoric (the art of argumentation) as well as other strategies to inquire, convince, persuade, or mediate.  Although these goals may be quite different, the elements of mature reasoning are the same.

Personally, I think this gives a pretty dry synopsis of a deep topic like this. 

Mature reasoning can take many forms.  However, in order to be effective, it must be communicated in some way.  It must have elements of curiosity and the reasoner cannot be afraid to question accepted standards and methods.  It is not partisan, it is not bipartisan, it is logical and therefore does not need a label.  It is not an answer but a series of implied yet eloquent questions.  It is not a destination but the path to get there.  It is the right facts with the right explanation at the right time in the right place.  These elements are even more abstract and possibly vague than the textbook definition. But this is mature reasoning to me.  

I hope in my blog, I can utilize organization and facts to channel emotion and passion for what I am arguing.  I think this is the most useful and effective theory of argumentation.  I hope to avoid being hypocritical and use mature reasoning in my own argumentation and analysis of other's arguments. I will be very excited if I can accomplish this and apply it to scientific writing.  Scientific writing originally seems very different from argumentative writing but I hope to draw more parallels so I can apply what I am learning and practicing to more realms of academia.  

Here is a little information to consider.  Maybe this is why mature reasoning seems to be dwindling...http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSL/is_1_80/ai_n6113182/

Kaitlyn