Questions tagged [rationality]
Rationality is the use of reason to find the truth based on facts and to decide how to act to achieve desired goals. Also use this tag for questions regarding any view or intellectual movement which holds rationality in high regard and accepts it as the only legitimate way to get to the truth.
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Can we adopt a certain perspective without subjective experience?
Introduction
I am not speaking about our conscious perspective that includes our conscious knowledge of what is rational and what is irrational. I am speaking about the deep perspective that controls ...
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Has anyone claimed that no decision is inherently better or more rational than any other decision?
The is-ought problem, for those who believe it is an actual problem, is the problem that you can not deduce an ought statement from any number of is statements.
It seems natural for this to lead to a ...
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Are there contemporary adherents to this view about systemised ethics?
In some parts of the field of truth, no doubt, men who work
by these divergent ways are apt as men to represent
antithetical types. But over the whole field this need not be
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Does philosophy shed any light on how parties can fruitfully debate without an agreed source of truth?
A hallmark of recent political developments is extreme partisanship, where each side has near total distrust of the other. To exacerbate this situation there has been a breakdown in agreement over ...
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Understanding McDowell's Mind and World
In "Mind and World" John McDowell takes a Sellarsian approach, claiming that the given is a myth. Yet, he says, if I understand him correctly, the space of reasons is not a mere "spinning in the void",...
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Are there philosophers who have considered free will for agents who are not considered rational?
The tag for "free-will" currently has the following with my emphasis in bold:
for questions concerning the freedom of choice of rational agents
Are there philosophers who have considered freedom ...
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Can a ban on certain words be justified rationally?
In our world there is a notion of political correctness. There are some words which can be considered rude or abusive in themselves, regardless of the thought behind them. However, this seems awkward ...
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Is it possible for a human being to be rational?
How i see the rational man: A man who not only able to believe that something is rational/irrational, but in the same time able to function in respect to this belief.
An example for the irrational ...
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Please explain Good's solution to why we should make new observations
IJ Good's paper (1967) gives a solution to Ayer's problem on why we should make new observations.
I'm trying to follow the steps in his solution.
His assumptions are that:
There are r mutually ...
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Do objective improvements to descriptive ethics always improve normative ethics?
Robert Nozick provided an argument against Utilitarianism called Experience Machine. The argument involves only the "Is" part: "We have reason not to plug into the experience machine." But this makes ...
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reductio ad absurdum vs. argument by lack of imagination
A reductio ad absurdum is a correct way to argue. An argument by lack of imagination is an informal fallacy.
But if a reductio ad absurdum is applied outside of a highly formalized setting like ...
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Why does Newcomb's paradox seem to have different solutions depending on when the choice is made despite determinism?
I believe the Newcomb's paradox is a significant problem in philosophy, since I regard it as a well formulated version of the lazy argument (under certain conditions) with real life implications.
...
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Is it possible for the "feeling of having a rational thought" to be an illusion? If so, how can you have any confidence whatsoever in your thoughts?
All our reasoning, logic, deductions, Science, Philosophy, eureka moments, Aha! moments, etc. are based on a feeling of confidence that we are "thinking correctly", we are "reasoning correctly", we ...
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Why would philosophical agnosticism and pragmatic atheism be considered more rational than philosophical agnosticism and pragmatic theism?
I'm referring to the accepted answer on this post. The answerer states that
If one is both attentive to empirical scientific studies and to philosophical investigations of the limits of knowledge, ...
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Is immorality just irrationality?
If someone acts immorally - assuming some sort of free will - then they are doing so despite it being demonstrably wrong, i.e. it is a mistake as surely as 1+1=3 is a mistake. Doesn't this then give ...
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The Law of Identity and Emptiness
If all rational, logical, philosophical, scientific, and mathematical reasoning starts with the initial axiom that 'X=X' - that is a 0 information tautology - can it be said that all ensuing rational, ...
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Equal evidence for and against a belief - which to choose?
If there is a belief for which there is an equal amount of evidence both for and against (the evidence is provided by experts in the appropriate field), what is the most rational thing to do in a ...
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Hiddenness of God
I have some questions regarding the argument of the Canadian philosopher John Schellenberg (Hiddenness of God) or (nonresistant nonbelief).
See it here: The argument from nonresistant nonbelief
My ...
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Why do some consider it irrational to pray?
Whether a god who listens to prayers exists, is not known. But what is known is that the probability of such an existence cannot be proven to be zero.
Hence, if somebody is in a major peril and can ...
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What defines "lack of evidence" and is it irrational to believe in something without evidence?
It is commonly accepted that the lack of evidence for a particular proposition makes belief in said proposition irrational.
However, imagine the following proposition,
P: An object exists for ...
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Can something be rational but not logical?
I'm having trouble understanding how something can be rational, logical, or both.
I had understood up to this point that they could be used interchangeably, but now I've been told that that's not ...
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Are there any aspects of science which do not change over time?
I`ve read this artilce about Historicist Theories of Scientific Rationality.
All the theories seem to state that the science is evolving over time, i.e. it changes in cumulative or revolutionary way (...
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If all men became equally rational, would rationality still have any meaning?
Rationality, as Wikipedia says, is:
Rationality is the quality or state of being reasonable,
based on facts or reason. Rationality implies the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons to ...
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Is it logical to fall in love?
Does logic only apply to certain human situations? For example, is it logical to fall in love?
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Is human civilization doomed to repeat cycles of cataclysms? [closed]
The full question is:
Is human civilization doomed to repeat cycles of cataclysms because, on average, humans cannot make rational decisions regarding complex subjects for which they have incomplete ...
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Theories of rationality/emotions which make Epicurus' death argument work?
I've read restatements of Epicurus' famous argument which attempt to prove that the fear of death is irrational (I don't know if Epicurus himself ever used a word like this. From what I've read, he ...
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How could human choices be actually rational?
Theoretically, human could be rational. But how is it possible that human are not influenced by their senses and only proceed with pure reason? Like practically?
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What are sanctions for logical inconsistency? [closed]
A Dutch book is a situation that allows a smart gambler to place bets in a way that guarantee a profit for him. It can be shown that if a bookmaker follows the rules of Bayesian calculus in the ...
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Has Descartes interpreted the rational mind as res cogitans?
I've read several description of the Descartes' dualism but I'm still not really sure: Does Descartes comprehend the human rational mind, human psychology - the part of thinking that is not ...
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What arguments support the idea that rational thinking requires language use?
The idea that rationality has language as a necessary condition might be called, per Brandom, lingualism.
What are the most popular arguments for this position?
Why should we think that the way we ...
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Are we obliged (have responsibility) to think/act rationaly?
A person who leads a very organized daily life from morning to night might not be much happier from a person who has no routine at all and do whatever he likes, whenever he wants. Similarly it can be ...
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Is one rationally justified in assuming a dominant philosophical position that one has some reasons to doubt?
If one has insufficient reasons for rejecting a dominant philosophical position but sufficient reasons to doubt that the dominant philosophical position is unproblematic, to what extent is one ...
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Do metaphysics touch the aspect of rational behavior?
I'm trying to validate my concept of Rationality. Rational behavior as I understand is the inherent nature of beings. Like the need to worship deities or the attribute of self esteem the human psyche. ...
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Should the power of an explanation have limited scope?
Should the power of an explanation, especially in science (though I'm interested if this changes anything), have a limited scope? Meaning that in abduction an explanation that explains more isn't ...
user6917
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What is the point of prayer for theological rationalists?
Of course, there are psychological aspects, you can unify a community or concentrate on your life goals. I feel like Christians try to do something like that when they say that prayer should be a ...
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Can reason defend itself without resort to reason?
I recently read, "Reason can't defend itself without resort to reason." Is this universally true?
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Is it legitimate to win a moral debate with logic?
Is it legitimate to win a moral, political or ethical argument by using logical methods?
If you demonstrate that an opponent's statements are somehow illogical, the reason the opponent is ...
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What makes the "lazy arguments" (you have no chance, so don't bother) valid or invalid?
What I am thinking of is not exactly like the Lazy argument described in Wikipedia. I am thinking of a general argument where a normative conclusion towards inaction is drawn from the knowledge of the ...
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Why does Kierkegaard's pseudonym Johannes De Silentio believe Abraham exemplifies faith?
From Fear and Trembling:
All that time [Abraham] believed--he believed that God would not require
Isaac of him, whereas he was willing nevertheless to sacrifice him if
it was required. He ...
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Is rationality the same as instrumentality?
Is there a difference between rationality and instrumentality?
I heard somewhere, that instrumentality asks, how we should attain our goals, while rationality asks, why we should attain them. But, ...
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Is the rationality an instinct for the man? [closed]
I read a post in facebook few minutes ago and the titular says something about a boy banging a dog, and then the boy broke the dog's leg because the dog bit her little sister and also the boy stabbed ...
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How can rational choice theory be explanatory?
In his work, John Harsanyi appears to have taken issue with classical social theorists' account of social phenomena. For example, he criticized Max Weber's typological approach on the grounds, "If we ...
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Do human beings always act rationally (i.e. in an internally consistent manner)? [closed]
When a human being acts, is it always in an internally logically consistent (i.e. rational) manner?
To answer this question, the assumption is that emotions are a part of our internal logic. We have ...
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Is it a fallacy to say that a sane person cannot apply rational thought to the motivations of the insane?
A common argument in today's news is that:
Someone commits a heinous crime by shooting a bunch of people.
Anyone who commits a heinous crime must be insane.
Sane people cannot apply rational thought ...
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What sets apart humans from other animals? [duplicate]
What sets apart humans from other animals? Is it rationality? Or morality?
If humans are inherently rational animals then why are they so often irrational in judgments and decisions? And if humans are ...
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Is there any prospect for a unified account of rationality?
It is a commonplace that philosophers, psychologists and economists often talk about rational belief or rational behavior, but they seem to mean different things by it. Is this because
(a) there is ...
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Does existentialism rule out the existence of a rational world?
I have no grounding in philosophy, but I have just this minute been reading a few articles about existentialism.
I was confused by its apparent rejection of rationalism. I understand that this ...
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Are aesthetic judgments rational?
I was reading this article: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetic-judgment/#1.4
I was thinking that aesthetic judgments are responses that derive from our emotions. So they can be considered ...
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Are we that different from (irrational) animals? [closed]
Well, up to now I'm pretty sure I didn't find anyone who can ignore feelings. I do try my best since I do think that they are the irrational thing we have, but of course, I still have them. Fear, ...
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Is it possible to prove the invalidity of logic without using logic?
Is it possible to validly invalidate logic without using logic?
Mere assertion gives rise to the question, "How do you know?".
At that point, you end up having to use logic to justify the thesis ...
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