“But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?”[1]

This is an excerpt from a letter written in 1881 by Charles Darwin. What troubled him was the notion of trusting the human mind; if we evolved from lower life forms; if we can be reduced down to random, non-rational physical processes, how can our minds be rational?

Indeed, questions such as, “Can we trust our minds?”, “Can we reason to the truth?”, and, “Why and how have we acquired the ability to understand the universe?” have captured the minds of great thinkers throughout the ages. Our minds are truly fascinating; we have mental faculties which outshine…