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."

Reason Biases by Dumu The Void March 1, 2026