Raisonneur

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who employs critical thinking and reasoned analysis is often regarded as a rational thinker
2. An individual who systematically evaluates information and ideas may be characterized as a logical analyst
3. Someone who applies logic and reason to analyze arguments and evidence

Etymology: The French "raisonneur" comes from "raisonner", "to reason", which in turn traces to Latin "ratiocinari", "to calculate or reckon". The root idea is one of counting and weighing, the same family of thought that gave English "ratio" and "reason" their sense of ordered judgment. In French the word has long described a person who argues, reasons or debates, often with a suggestion of over-fondness for argument. English took the word from French, and in the theatre it acquired a specific role. A raisonneur is a character who stands apart from the plot and comments on it, typically a sensible, detached figure through whom the playwright voices a moral or rational view. Audiences encounter this figure in French drama of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where the character serves as the author's mouthpiece, dissecting the actions of others with cool logic. The sense "logical argument analyst" follows from this stage role: the raisonneur is the one who takes apart arguments and sets out their reasoning clearly.

Synonyms: reasoner, thinker, philosopher, intellectual, rationalist