arutlemist

Arutlemist is an Estonian term referring to the act or process of reasoning, discussion, and deliberation. It covers both informal everyday talk and more structured inquiry, in which participants examine ideas, question assumptions, and construct or evaluate arguments. The noun arutlemist is derived from the verb arutlema or arutlemine, meaning to discuss, consider, or reason; arutlemist is the partitive singular form used when speaking of “some reasoning” or “the act of reasoning.”

In practice, arutlemist appears across education, philosophy, journalism, and public life. It involves presenting claims, supporting them with evidence, assessing counterarguments, and refining conclusions. Proficient arutlemist emphasizes clarity, logical coherence, and fair consideration of opposing views, and may draw on methods such as dialectical reasoning, Socratic questioning, or structured argumentation.

Historically and culturally, arutlemist is connected to traditions of reasoned discourse in Estonian-language contexts, where thoughtful, evidence-based debate is valued in classrooms, media, and political deliberations. While its aim is knowledge and understanding, it can also be used rhetorically. Awareness of logical fallacies and cognitive biases is often considered part of skilled arutlemist.

See also: arutelu, argumentatsioon, kriitiline mõtlemine, dialoog.