The Reasonable Man Paradox

What is reason? What does it mean to be reasonable? As usual I went to Google for an answer and as usual found many different definitions, though most had a common thread, that thread being:

"Reason is the faculty or process of drawing logical inferences. Reason is in opposition to sensation, perception, feeling, and desire."

That makes sense to me. As I interpret the above it means that a reasonable person has the ability, and utilizes that ability to arrive at sensible conclusions when considering a non-factual matter. I say non-factual because reason is not required when considering fact. Something that is factual is irrefutable and does not require conclusions. A fact is self-evident. 

The second part of that definition states that, when there is conflict between reason and what one may sense, perceive, feel, or want to believe, reason should prevail. To quote Hamlet, Aye, there's the rub." We all of us live our lives guided mostly by values and beliefs we've formed, not fact, and we don't give up our beliefs easily. Which leads me to the reasonable man paradox.

Some weeks ago I saw an older California couple being asked on television in California why they weren't wearing masks. The man replied that, "It's not as bad as they make it out to be", as the wife dutifully nodded in agreement. In the past ten months I have heard that same comment so often from so many people. I want to ask them who is "they", and what are you basing your conclusion on, but experience has taught me that's not a good thing to do. Some friendships are fragile. 

I believe that Covid-19 is deadly and continue to mask up, carry pocket hand sanitizer, maintain physical distance and avoid gatherings. My reasoning is based on information from a number of medical websites including John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota School of Medicine and several more, all providing numbers and explanations regarding the seriousness of the disease. And on various legitimate internet news sources detailing the seriousness of the pandemic. And on the news videos showing hospitals stretched to their limits in terms of space, equipment, personnel and morgue space. And on the Covid dashboards of nearly every state showing the number of cases and deaths. And on the advice of every credible doctor, scientist and medical institution across the world who implores and even pleads with us to wear masks, wash hands frequently, and most importantly to avoid gatherings and travel. Given all of these sources my reasoning tells me that the pandemic is extremely serious and that I need to take it seriously.

Hundreds of thousands of people, like the couple mentioned above don't believe that the virus is, "....as bad as they make it out to be". Many refuse to wear masks and are living normal social lives including traveling and gathering over the Holidays. I've given the reasons why I have taken a position on Covid-19. I don't understand what their logic is for arriving at an opposite conclusion. Is 2,245,649  global deaths and 450,000 deaths in the USA not serious? Or perhaps they believe that the numbers are mistaken or are deliberately being inflated? Or maybe it's just a matter of, "Yeah, it's bad but it won't happen to me.' 

Some weeks ago former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie commented that, "Seventy-four million of us voted for Trump. We're not stupid." I respect Christie. He is a reasonable and objective thinker. I consider myself to be a reasonable and objective thinker. How can Christie and 74 million people arrive at a different conclusion than I and 78 million who voted against Trump?  How did the people who dismiss Covid-19 precautions arrive at a different position than I and those like-minded have? Have we or they allowed feelings, beliefs or desire to override reason? Shouldn't a body of reasonable people, looking at the same circumstances arrive at the same conclusion? One possible answer to those questions might be that a purely reasonable man does not/can not exist, that we cannot overcome our biases. Or maybe we differ because there is no correct answer. Maybe the seriousness of the pandemic is totally subjective. Maybe the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of Trump's administration is purely subjective. Those last two suggestions don't seem right to me...I'm pretty sure there is a correct point of view but maybe I'm not a reasonable man.