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Definition 2024

recta_ratio

recta ratio

English

Noun

recta ratio ‎(uncountable)

  1. (philosophy) “Right reason”, which regards virtue as desirable in itself.
    • 1677, Theophilus Gale, The Court of the Gentiles, part III: “The Vanity of Pagan Philoſophie Demonſtrated”, ii:4.3, page 38:
      Here we may ſee whence the Scholemen borrowed their Recta ratio, right reaſon, which they make with the Philoſophers to be the Regula eſſe moralis, the rule of Moral Beings and Actions.

Etymology

First attested in an English text in 1677; Latin: rēcta (the feminine nominative singular form of rēctus, “right”, “proper”) + ratiō ‎(“reason”, “calculation”), a calque of the Ancient Greek ὀρθός λόγος ‎(orthós lógos, “right reason”). Cf. Cicero, De leg. I, 7, I, 2: »Recta ratio - quae cum sit lex, lege quoque consociati homines cum diis putandi sumus«.

Addendum: Term used in a letter to "Tom" by John Locke, October 20, 1659.

"...We are all centuars, and 'tis the beast that carries us, and everyone's recta ratio is but the traverses of his own steps."

Pronunciation

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