Theory of reasoning by goals

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of introducing a new theoretical model of deductive reasoning into the psychology of reasoning. This new theoretical model, which we will call here the theory of reasoning by goals, has as its main property to make every characteristic of deductive reasoning depend on the goal employed by an agent to be able to reason. The theoretical context within which this goal must be framed is therefore that of the agency, here understood in a generic way as the ability that each individual has, in his or her role as agent, to pursue his or her own ends through the achievement of specific goals.