3

Meaning 2
The aim of reasoning is to find out, from the consideration of
matters and things already known, something else that we had not before known.

Consequently, reasoning is good if it be calculated to give a
true conclusion from true premises; but otherwise it is bad. Thus, the
question is purely one of fact and not of thinking or of any disposition to
think in one way rather than another. Let A stand for the antecedently as-
summed state of things asserted in the collective premiss, and C for the
consequent state of things assented in the conclusion to be consequent upon A.
Then, the whole question is whether or not, to the extent the reasoning supposes,
[whether it {carat: "professes to"} be necessary reasoning, or probably, or advantageous in the long run,]
it be true that A is realized in fact, C will be realized in fact, too. If so, the
inference is valid; if not, it is invalid fallacious. It is not, in the least, the goal