for Marx the content of Reason. Reason is the objectively necessary content of our practical activity which we have internalised in a mental, subjective form. In Hegel's system, Reason is the unity of consiousnesss as such and Self-Conciousness (and so negates itself as the Theoretical Spirit and the Practical Spirit) and becomes Objective Spirit
             - all the phenomena of history, politics, culture and so on - all, according to Hegel, the work of Reason ( http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/r/e.htm , 17/05/04).
             Reason is the method of thinking in an organized, clear way to achieve knowledge and understanding. Since it is a means, its importance and significance is in its method. The ends toward which it is used defines the validity of the method. Understanding and knowledge is the criteria for evaluating the use of reason.
             Knowledge is knowledge about reality. Its base is perception, and its method is reason. We gain knowledge through observing reality. We use our minds to identify what we have observed by gathering more perceptual information until we can understand what we see. Reason is the tool that allows us to determine how to gather more information, and what kind of information we need. Reason is then used to compare and combine that new information into the rest of our body of knowledge in order to acquire a more complete understanding.
             Knowledge requires clarity and the identification of limits and boundaries. Only reason can collect sensory data into something meaningful, which is clear and definable. To speak of knowledge that we don't understand is a contradiction in terms. Emotions, perceptual memories, or vague notions are not knowledge. Knowledge is articulate and can only be formed by the use of reason. Reason is absolute. (http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/index.html?http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Politics_Main.html, 17/05/04).
             From this clear understanding of the term reason, we need to look a...