Contemporary Theories of Reasoning: An Analysis Computational and algorithmic challenges to contemporary theories of reasoning Kattja Madrell Reasoning is the process of using given information to draw valid conclusions and produce new information (Goel Dolan, 2003) based on a combination of beliefs and language of thought (Fodor, 2001). The language of thought hypothesis proposed by Fodor (2001) states that thought and thinking occurs in a mental language; mental representations of reasoning are like sentences and this is why language of thought is sometimes also known as Mentalese (Murat 2010). Fodor (2001) admitted, however, that language of thought alone could not be used to explain reasoning; instead a combination of language of thought and a person’s belief is now accepted as the basis of human reasoning. Evans, Barston, Pollard (1983) found that a person’s beliefs about the conclusion of an argument influenced whether or not they deemed that conclusion to be valid; the truth value of a conclusion was based upon its logical relationship to a belief (Goel Dolan, 2003).
