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"Why is this? Is it because people are not rational actors? No." Yes, it is. This article is just one example after another of human irrationality being derail

"Why is this? Is it because people are not rational actors? No." Yes, it is. This article is just one example after another of human irrationality being derailed by evolutionary hacks.

joe_the_user 16y ago
Indeed, this is just a rhetorical turn of speech. The information presented demonstrates that human beings often do not act rationally. But "people are not rational actors" isn't a causal explanation, it's just a description of a situation. Arguing against such an "explanation" makes no more sense than using such an explanation.
Gormo 16y ago
Or you could say that it is because people are rational actors, but that rationality is often itself irrational. Reason is a useful and important skill, but reason is the manipulation of symbols that exist within our own minds, not autonomously in the external world. If we take reason for granted, apply it without recognizing its subjective nature, and consider its product to be objective knowledge of the world, then we are acting rationally, but it is irrational to do so.
zackattack 16y ago
Um, Did you read the article? Did you see how I praised Predictably Irrational? Or did you just jump at the opportunity to call me an evolutionary hack? I challenge you to provide me with an example of a perfectly rational human actor. How might he live his life? Maybe a human can be rational within the confines of a specific problem-universe, i.e., any claims that he makes are logically derived from inherent axioms. But there are no axioms of "how to live" unless you're St Thomas Aquinas, but even his morality is suspect. Okay, even if you say that Utility is not just $, but emotional payout, I will 100% agree that we're often irrational in our decision making; c.f. Dan Gilbert and Dan Ariely for more information. BUT IN THE CONTEXT I WAS REFERRING TO, preferring restaurant soup to a bedpan is not irrational because we give more emotional value to positive associated emotions and negative emotional value to the bedpan. So cut it out.

"Why is this? Is it because people are not rational actors? No." Yes, it is. This article is just one example after another of human irrationality being derailed by evolutionary hacks.

joe_the_user 16y ago

Indeed, this is just a rhetorical turn of speech. The information presented demonstrates that human beings often do not act rationally. But "people are not rational actors" isn't a causal explanation, it's just a description of a situation. Arguing against such an "explanation" makes no more sense than using such an explanation.

Gormo 16y ago

Or you could say that it is because people are rational actors, but that rationality is often itself irrational. Reason is a useful and important skill, but reason is the manipulation of symbols that exist within our own minds, not autonomously in the external world. If we take reason for granted, apply it without recognizing its subjective nature, and consider its product to be objective knowledge of the world, then we are acting rationally, but it is irrational to do so.

zackattack 16y ago

Um, Did you read the article? Did you see how I praised Predictably Irrational? Or did you just jump at the opportunity to call me an evolutionary hack? I challenge you to provide me with an example of a perfectly rational human actor. How might he live his life? Maybe a human can be rational within the confines of a specific problem-universe, i.e., any claims that he makes are logically derived from inherent axioms. But there are no axioms of "how to live" unless you're St Thomas Aquinas, but even his morality is suspect. Okay, even if you say that Utility is not just $, but emotional payout, I will 100% agree that we're often irrational in our decision making; c.f. Dan Gilbert and Dan Ariely for more information. BUT IN THE CONTEXT I WAS REFERRING TO, preferring restaurant soup to a bedpan is not irrational because we give more emotional value to positive associated emotions and negative emotional value to the bedpan. So cut it out.