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"rationality" is about how your reason about your goals. Goals themselves cannot be rational or irrational, even if they are in conflict.
by sukilot 6y ago
"rationality" is about how your reason about your goals. Goals themselves cannot be rational or irrational, even if they are in conflict.
- ineedasername 6y agoBy that definition everything is rational as long as you have reasons for your goal. Logic has to enter it too, and reasons aren't always logical. Having a reason doesn't make it rational.
- elliekelly 6y agoI’m not sure rational and logical have a 1:1 meaning as you assume. For example, if I look both ways before crossing a one-way street, I think I would call that rational but I’m not sure I would call that logical. I could certainly be convinced otherwise but it’s interesting to think about.
- corin_ 6y agoSurely it depends on how the decision to look both ways was made? If you do it out of instinct and immediately think "oh yeah, forgot I only need to look one way" then it wasn't logical. But if you know it's one way, yet think "I've witnessed bikes and even cars going the wrong way before, better check both directions" that seems like it could be a perfectly logical action.
- Godel_unicode 6y agoHaving a reason you disagree with doesn't make it irrational.
- ineedasername 6y agoIs short term satisfaction a rational choice over increased chances of death? That was the context here. It's also a fairly well recognized behavioral pattern of irrational decision making. A reason alone doesn't make something rational. A paranoid thought that aliens are trying to abduct you may be backed up by the reason "because secret weather balloons are tacking me". It's a reason. It's not a rational one. Having a reason is not synonymous with being rational.