PLAY PODCASTS
ratiocination
Episode 4489

ratiocination

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day · Merriam-Webster

February 6, 20191m 48s

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (rss.art19.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 6, 2019 is:


ratiocination \rat-ee-oh-suh-NAY-shun\ noun

1 : the process of exact thinking : reasoning

2 : a reasoned train of thought


Examples:

"It is beginning to look like television may soon kill not only the theater and the movies but radio, books, magazines, newspapers, and finally articulate speech and all the processes of ratiocination." — Aldous Huxley, letter, 14 Feb. 1949

"Ratiocination is a trained, disciplined procedure of arriving at truth—a use of reason and perspicacity so precise it's almost supernatural." — Virginia Heffernan, Wired, June 2018


Did You Know?

Edgar Allan Poe is said to have called the 1841 story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" his first "tale of ratiocination." Many today agree with his assessment and consider that Poe classic to be literature's first detective story. Poe didn't actually use ratiocination in "Rue Morgue," but the term does appear three times in its 1842 sequel, "The Mystery of Marie Roget." In "Marie Roget," the author proved his reasoning ability (ratiocination traces to ratio, Latin for "reason" or "computation"). The second tale was based on an actual murder, and as the case unfolded after the publication of Poe's work, it became clear that his fictional detective had done an amazing job of reasoning through the crime.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.