The essential fact of language acquisition

In a dictionary you can look up the word ‘rational’, as well as its cognates like ‘reason’, ‘reasonable’ etc. The fundamental fact of language acquisition is that we do not learn most words by reading a definition, but through learning their use. We learn to use sentences to express beliefs, make judgments, describe situations, ask questions, etc. In short we learn a concept.
Write a short paper on how you use, or how you understand the word ‘reason’. You may try your hand at a definition, and if you have studied logic you know that this will entail looking for necessary and sufficient conditions that fix the meaning of the word across various uses. This is a more peculiar and difficult endeavor then you might think. You might also give examples of rational behavior, or rational ways of obtaining beliefs. Some students have reflected on ambiguous or borderline cases to show how the meaning is not (or not yet anyway) fixed.
You may, but need not, reference outside sources. If you find yourself totally at sea trying to articulate how you use the word, you might try thinking about what you mean by ‘irrational’ or ‘unreasonable’—we will take up these words later in the semester, but since their uses become intertwined with the rise of the enlightenment you might find that you cannot coherently talk about ‘rationality’ without also talking about ‘irrationality’.
Try to reflect on your behavior, beliefs and conscious actions to see how rational or reasonable you find yourself to be (as well as those around you). Since most learning takes place in dialogue you might want to discuss this and related issues with other people.