What Does It Mean to Be Reasonable?

When Krista Lawlor told her teenage son to be home at a “reasonable hour,” he responded the way any self-respecting teenager with a philosophy professor for a parent might: He demanded a precise definition of “reasonable.” To him, Lawlor realized, the word was frustratingly vague, one whose meaning changed depending on perspective. That slippery, elusive quality of reasonableness is the topic of Lawlor’s new book, Being Reasonable: The Case for a Misunderstood Virtue. In a comprehensive explor