Reasonshitpost

The tactical deployment of hyper-rational, often coldly utilitarian arguments to dismiss ethical, emotional, or social concerns as "irrational." It involves reducing complex human situations to crude cost-benefit analyses or biological imperatives, then presenting this reduction as superior, clear-eyed reasoning. It's a performance of detached rationality used as a cudgel.

Reasonshitpost Example: In a conversation about artistic funding, someone argues, "Reason dictates we defund the orchestra. Its utility-per-dollar is negligible compared to STEM grants. Music is just ordered sound waves triggering pleasure chemicals; we can synthesize that cheaper." This reasonshitpost uses the veneer of rational calculation to dismiss art's cultural value entirely.

by Dumuabzu February 8, 2026

Reasonpost

Similar to a logicpost, but focused on dictating the specific mode of reasoning that is acceptable (e.g., purely utilitarian cost-benefit analysis, strict biological reductionism). It frames this mode as “reason itself,” branding other forms of reasoning (deontological, emotional, intuitive) as “unreasonable.”

Reasonpost Example: In an ethics debate, someone states, “The only reasonable way to judge this is through a utilitarian calculus of net happiness. Any appeal to ‘rights’ or ‘dignity’ is an emotional appeal, not reason.” They’ve set a reasonpost, excluding entire ethical traditions from the domain of valid discourse.

by Dumuabzu February 8, 2026

Reason Biases

The broadest category: biases that affect how reason itself is understood, valued, and practiced. Reason Biases include: treating reason as a faculty rather than a practice; assuming reason is separate from culture, history, or embodiment; privileging Western traditions of reason over others; using "reason" as a gatekeeping concept to exclude non-dominant ways of knowing. Reason Biases are what happen when reason becomes a possession rather than a process—something some have and others lack.

Reason Biases "He keeps saying 'just use reason' as if reason were simple, universal, available to all equally. That's Reason Bias—ignoring that reason is practiced differently in different traditions, that access to reason is shaped by power, that 'reason' often means 'my way of thinking.' Reason isn't a light switch; it's a lifetime of learning. Bias makes it a weapon."

by Dumu The Void March 1, 2026

Reason Metabiases

Second-order biases about reason as a faculty, practice, and ideal. Reason Metabiases include: treating reason as a possession rather than a process; assuming reason is separate from culture, history, or embodiment; using "reason" as a gatekeeping concept to exclude non-dominant ways of knowing; believing that reason's authority is self-evident; ignoring the ways reason itself is constructed and contested. Reason Metabiases are what happen when reason becomes an idol—worshipped rather than used, defended rather than examined.

Reason Metabiases "He keeps saying 'just use reason' as if reason were simple, universal, and his. That's Reason Metabias—treating his particular reasoning tradition as Reason itself. Reason isn't a thing you have; it's a practice you learn. The metabias is thinking your practice is the practice, not one among many."

by Dumu The Void March 1, 2026

Reason Double Standards

The practice of applying different standards of reason to different people or positions—treating one's own reasoning as reasonable while dismissing comparable reasoning from others as unreasonable. Reason Double Standards are the everyday currency of argument, the unspoken assumption that "my reasons are reasons; yours are rationalizations." They make genuine dialogue impossible because they ensure that one side is always already reasonable and the other always already wrong.

Example: "His reasons were careful analysis; her reasons were just rationalizations. Reason Double Standards in action: same thing, different labels, depending on who was doing the reasoning. The double standard was invisible to him, which is how it worked."

by Dumu The Void March 10, 2026

Reason Power

The overarching capacity to shape outcomes through the deployment of reason, argument, and discourse. It's the power of the better argument, the compelling logic, the undeniable evidence—but crucially, it only works in contexts where reason is actually valued. Reason power is what the lone dissenter hopes to wield in a tyrannical meeting, what the scientist uses against the politician, what the philosopher dreams of bringing to the public square. It's fragile, easily overwhelmed by other forms of power, but when it works, it's the only power that can genuinely change minds.

Example: "They had all the money and all the votes, but in the end, reason power won—her argument was just too clear and too true to ignore."

by Dumu The Void March 11, 2026

Reason Hegemony

The dominance of a particular conception of "reason" itself—usually the Enlightenment ideal of dispassionate, analytic, individual cognition—over all other modes of thought and understanding. Reason hegemony operates when this specific style of thinking is treated as the pinnacle of human cognition, and all other modes (emotional intelligence, embodied wisdom, relational knowing, intuitive insight) are relegated to lower status. It's the cultural assumption that the most "reasonable" person is the one who reasons like a Western philosopher, and that other ways of making sense of the world are merely primitive precursors to "real" thought.

Example: "The committee valued the candidate's cold analytic memoranda while dismissing the warm, contextually rich reports from field workers—a classic case of reason hegemony mistaking one cognitive style for intelligence itself."

by Dumu The Void March 12, 2026