“Lazy reason” is a term that is used to refer to the idea that actions or events are predetermined, and any planning or active choice in action is unimportant or meaningless. This is basically a criticism of the idea of determinism or fatalism, and uses the term “lazy” to describe such concepts. Determinism is a concept built upon the idea that future events will occur regardless of the actions of any individual person, and that everything is predestined. “Lazy reason” is then used to describe this idea in a negative sense, arguing that it takes away personal responsibility and can serve as a justification for laziness and inaction.
The term “lazy reason” does not necessarily describe a basic concept or philosophy all its own, but instead is used as part of an argument against another idea. This idea is equivalent to determinism or fatalism, which is the concept that the future is already determined regardless of human action. Such views are often tied to predestination and the idea that an all-powerful deity has already determined the past, present and future. If such a view is taken as philosophy, then it becomes easy to decide to do nothing in a time of critical action or make no choices, since anything that must happen will happen regardless of his or her actions.
Some have argued that this type of world view is a form of “lazy reason” in which people are able to dismiss themselves from personal responsibility and action. If a person’s thoughts and deeds are already determined, then he or she has no reason to consider such things and can merely act without thinking. Rather than concern himself or herself with the plight of others, the opponents of determinism argue, someone can merely worry for himself or herself since the outcome of any action is already preordained. This justification of inaction uses “lazy reason” since it absolves people of the necessity to act or think for themselves.
The major argument behind the idea of “lazy reason” is that people should be active and think critically about future events. Even if the future is predetermined in some way, future events are still beyond the knowledge and comprehension of humanity and therefore are unknown. The right action or thought that is meant to happen might only occur due to careful consideration and planning. This would mean that even within the confines of someone’s lazy reason for inaction, he or she should still consider that some action may be necessary and could be the future event that must take place.
