What exactly is supposed to be "beyond" logic? [View All]

[Silent3]

A poster used this phrase on me here a couple of days ago, but it's hardly the first time that I've heard this idea invoked before.

When people say this do they mean they feel a need to embrace outright illogical things?

Are they rebelling against some ridiculous stereotype of "logic", where the idea of "logic" translates to "narrow-minded, uncreative, detached, emotionless, gear-grinding thought processes"?

I have no trouble admitting that logic has limits. Logic, in and of itself, is devoid of direction, values, and goals. Someone might say, for instance, that it's "not logical to smoke", but logic only leads to that conclusion in the context of the commonly assumed, unstated -- but not necessarily inescapable -- premise that a long and healthy life is a desirable goal. Someone might say that striving for a well-run system of government is "logical" -- but logic can't get you there without a starting premise that seeking common good is a desirable direction to go.

This is not a recommendation for illogic, however. It's a recognition of the need for nonlogical premises -- basic, logic-neutral starting points which have to be chosen before logic can get you anywhere.

I'll have bitten way more than I can chew if I attempt to fully develop what I'm trying to say here at a half hour past midnight, so I'll just have to hope I've set the stage sufficiently for where I'm coming from on the subject of logic, and get to my first reaction when I hear something like "going beyond logic"...

Logic can't get you all the answers you want -- that's true. But who says anything else can? What makes some people think (or speak and act as if they think) that the universe owes them the answers they want, that the universe must somehow provide some other path to those answers, and further, that they think they've found such paths?

Why do I have to constantly deal with people asking (quite often with an "Ah, hah! I betcha never thought of this, smartypants!" tone) questions like, "Well, why do you think we're here?", "What's the purpose of all of this for then?", etc., as if having some mystical (usually illogical) answer to offer is better than saying "I don't know"?