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The Non-Rationality of Human Behavior
Is calling actions rational or irrational a category mistake?

The Non-Rationality of Human Behavior

aletheist
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Posted 11/06/09 - 05:11 PM: Subject: The Non-Rationality of Human Behavior	#1
We commonly talk about the reasons why people do things, and evaluate their actions accordingly as rational or irrational, reasonable or unreasonable. I have recently come to suspect that this is a category mistake. It is right to say that beliefs--and the judgments that we make when we adopt them--are grounded in reasons (or reasoning), and therefore can be rational or irrational. However, it seems more appropriate to say that choices--and the decisions that we make when we implement them--are grounded in motives (or deliberation), and are better characterized as responsible or irresponsible. The distinction that I am drawing here is between knowing and willing, intellect and volition. Western philosophy tends to favor the former over the latter, and therefore subjugate the one to the other. As a result, in my opinion, we typically underestimate the role of the will. This is not to say that there is no interaction between the two; our beliefs certainly influence our choices, and vice versa. Perhaps what we mean when we call a choice irrational is that it was made on the basis of irrational beliefs. Still, I think that it would be better to distinguish between the two by using different terminology, as suggested above. I am in the process of sorting this out and would welcome some feedback. Thanks in advance.
"Be attentive, Be intelligent, Be reasonable, Be responsible." - Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984)

madmaxthundercats
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1 of 1 people found this post helpful Posted 11/06/09 - 06:59 PM:	#2
"Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions" - David Hume You cannot make an ought statement using reason exclusively. In making an ought statement, a presupposition of emotion is always there. You can only say it is unreasonable to jump off a building if you first suppose that being a live is a good thing, which is a statement founded in passion.

magpies
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Posted 11/06/09 - 07:12 PM:	#3
One mans sanity is the other mans crazy. I see this all the time... Infact I have to ask myself every day where do most people think they are headed. For me it looks like most people have no clue where they want to be or why they want to get there. An example I can give is suppose a man lives on an island and decides he wants to leave it. So inorder to leave it he cuts down all the trees on the island to build a boat to sail to the land across the waters. Ok so to me this seems totaly crazy... Ok fine he gets across to the other land but in doing so he destroyed the eco system of the island he was on. To me that doesnt seem like a great trade off but when I look at every day people that seems to be all they do. They see an island they want to cross and are so moved by the desire to cross it they are destroying the eco system. I would rather just live like an ape I guess and if I wanted to go somewhere else I would do so with my imagination. I dont think I could ever make the choice to cut down a tree in all honesty. I would rather tuff it out then try to keep a fire going so I can stay warm. I don't think many people would hesitate to cut the tree down and burn it.

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