Rationality

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Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0241380308
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (413 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality by : Steven Pinker

Download or read book Rationality written by Steven Pinker and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 'Punchy, funny and invigorating ... Pinker is the high priest of rationalism' Sunday Times 'If you've ever considered taking drugs to make yourself smarter, read Rationality instead. It's cheaper, more entertaining, and more effective' Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind In the twenty-first century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that discovered vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theorizing? In Rationality, Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply an irrational species - cavemen out of time fatally cursed with biases, fallacies and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives and set the benchmarks for rationality itself. Instead, he explains, we think in ways that suit the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we have built up over millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, causal inference, and decision-making under uncertainty. These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book - until now. Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower. 'A terrific book, much-needed for our time' Peter Singer

Rationality in Question

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004451544
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality in Question by : Biderman

Download or read book Rationality in Question written by Biderman and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-03-04 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Unsettled Thoughts

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Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198833717
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis Unsettled Thoughts by : Julia Staffel

Download or read book Unsettled Thoughts written by Julia Staffel and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-01-05 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How should thinkers cope with uncertainty? What makes their degrees of belief rational, and how should they reason about uncertain matters? In epistemology, recent research has attempted to answer these questions by developing formal models of ideally rational credences. However, we know from psychological research that perfect rationality is unattainable for human thinkers--and so this raises the question of how rational ideals can apply to human thinkers. A popular reply is that the more a thinker's imperfectly rational credences approximate compliance with norms of ideal rationality, the better. But what exactly does this mean? Why is it better to be less irrational, if we can't ever be completely rational? And what does being closer to ideally rational amount to? If ideal models of rationality are supposed to help us understand the rationality of human, imperfect thinkers, we need answers to these questions. Unsettled Thoughts breaks new ground in the study of rationality in providing these answers: we can explain why it's better to be less irrational, because less irrational degrees of belief are generally more accurate and better at guiding our actions. Moreover, the way in which approximating ideal rationality is beneficial can be made formally precise by using a variety of distance measures that track the benefits of being more rational.

The Rationality Quotient

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Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262034840
Total Pages : 479 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rationality Quotient by : Keith E. Stanovich

Download or read book The Rationality Quotient written by Keith E. Stanovich and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to assess critical aspects of cognitive functioning that are not measured by IQ tests: rational thinking skills. Why are we surprised when smart people act foolishly? Smart people do foolish things all the time. Misjudgments and bad decisions by highly educated bankers and money managers, for example, brought us the financial crisis of 2008. Smart people do foolish things because intelligence is not the same as the capacity for rational thinking. The Rationality Quotient explains that these two traits, often (and incorrectly) thought of as one, refer to different cognitive functions. The standard IQ test, the authors argue, doesn't measure any of the broad components of rationality—adaptive responding, good judgment, and good decision making. The authors show that rational thinking, like intelligence, is a measurable cognitive competence. Drawing on theoretical work and empirical research from the last two decades, they present the first prototype for an assessment of rational thinking analogous to the IQ test: the CART (Comprehensive Assessment of Rational Thinking). The authors describe the theoretical underpinnings of the CART, distinguishing the algorithmic mind from the reflective mind. They discuss the logic of the tasks used to measure cognitive biases, and they develop a unique typology of thinking errors. The Rationality Quotient explains the components of rational thought assessed by the CART, including probabilistic and scientific reasoning; the avoidance of “miserly” information processing; and the knowledge structures needed for rational thinking. Finally, the authors discuss studies of the CART and the social and practical implications of such a test. An appendix offers sample items from the test.

The Normativity of Rationality

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198754280
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (987 download)

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Book Synopsis The Normativity of Rationality by : Benjamin Kiesewetter

Download or read book The Normativity of Rationality written by Benjamin Kiesewetter and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes our intentions and beliefs exhibit a structure that proves us to be irrational. The Normativity of Rationality is concerned with the question of whether we ought to avoid such irrationality. Benjamin Kiesewetter defends the normativity of rationality by presenting a new solution to the problems that arise from the common assumption that we ought to be rational. The argument touches upon many other topics in the theory of normativity, such as the form and the content of rational requirements, the preconditions of criticism, and the function of reasons in deliberation and advice. Drawing on an extensive and careful assessment of the problems discussed in the literature, Kiesewetter provides a detailed defence of a reason-response conception of rationality, a novel, evidence-relative account of reasons, and an explanation of structural irrationality in terms of these accounts.

Paradoxes of Rationality and Cooperation

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Publisher : UBC Press
ISBN 13 : 0774802154
Total Pages : 378 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (748 download)

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Book Synopsis Paradoxes of Rationality and Cooperation by : Richmond Campbell

Download or read book Paradoxes of Rationality and Cooperation written by Richmond Campbell and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology, the first to bring together the most importantphilosophical essays on the paradoxes, analyses the concepts underlyingthe Prisoner's Dilemma and Newcomb's Problem and evaluates theproposed solutions. The relevant theories have been developed over thepast four decades in a variety of disciplines: mathematics, economics,psychology, political science, biology, and philosophy. And theproblems these paradoxes uncover can arise in many different forms: indebates over nuclear disarmament, labour-management disputes, maritalconflicts, Calvinist theology, and even in the evolution of diseasethrough the "cooperation" of microorganisms. Thepossibilities for application are virtually limitless.

Epistemic Game Theory

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107008913
Total Pages : 581 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Epistemic Game Theory by : Andrés Perea

Download or read book Epistemic Game Theory written by Andrés Perea and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-07 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first textbook to explain the principles of epistemic game theory.

Rationality in Extensive Form Games

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9780792375401
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (754 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality in Extensive Form Games by : Andrés Perea

Download or read book Rationality in Extensive Form Games written by Andrés Perea and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2001-10-31 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is concerned with situations in which several persons reach decisions independently and the final consequence depends, potentially, upon each of the decisions taken. Such situations may be described formally by an extensive form game: a mathematical object which specifies the order in which decisions are to be taken, the information available to the decision makers at each point in time, and the consequence that results for each possible combination of decisions. A necessary requirement for rational behavior in such games is that each decision maker should reach a decision that is optimal, given his preferences over his own decisions. This requirement is far from sufficient, however, since every decision maker should in addition base his preferences upon the conjecture that his opponents will act optimally as well. It is this principle that distinguishes noncooperative game theory from one-person decision theory. The main purpose of Rationality in Extensive Form Games is to discuss different formalizations of this principle in extensive form games, such as backward induction, Nash equilibrium, forward induction and rationalizability, under the assumption that the decision makers' preferences are given by subjective expected utility functions. The various formalizations, or rationality criteria, are illustrated by examples, and the relationships among the different criteria are explored.

The Value of Rationality

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198802692
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis The Value of Rationality by : Ralph Wedgwood

Download or read book The Value of Rationality written by Ralph Wedgwood and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ralph Wedgwood gives a general account of what it is for states of mind and processes of thought to count as rational. Whether you are thinking rationally depends purely on what is going on in your mind, but rational thinking is a means to the goal of getting things right in your thinking, by believing the truth or making good choices.

Problems of Rationality

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Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 9780198237556
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (375 download)

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Book Synopsis Problems of Rationality by : Donald Davidson

Download or read book Problems of Rationality written by Donald Davidson and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2004 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donald Davidson's unified theory of the interpretation of thought, meaning, and action holds that rationality is a necessary condition for both mind and interpretation. Davidson here develops this theory to illuminate value judgements and how we understand them.

Rationality in Question

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Publisher : Brill
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (36 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality in Question by : Shlomo Biderman

Download or read book Rationality in Question written by Shlomo Biderman and published by Brill. This book was released on 1989 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Decision Theory and Rationality

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Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191567728
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis Decision Theory and Rationality by : José Luis Bermúdez

Download or read book Decision Theory and Rationality written by José Luis Bermúdez and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of rationality is a common thread through the human and social sciences — from political science to philosophy, from economics to sociology, and from management science to decision analysis. But what counts as rational action and rational behavior? José Luis Bermúdez explores decision theory as a theory of rationality. Decision theory is the mathematical theory of choice and for many social scientists it makes the concept of rationality mathematically tractable and scientifically legitimate. Yet rationality is a concept with several dimensions and the theory of rationality has different roles to play. It plays an action-guiding role (prescribing what counts as a rational solution of a given decision problem). It plays a normative role (giving us the tools to pass judgment not just on how a decision problem was solved, but also on how it was set up in the first place). And it plays a predictive/explanatory role (telling us how rational agents will behave, or why they did what they did). This controversial but accessible book shows that decision theory cannot play all of these roles simultaneously. And yet, it argues, no theory of rationality can play one role without playing the other two. The conclusion is that there is no hope of taking decision theory as a theory of rationality.

Rationality in the Social Sciences

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331962377X
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (196 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality in the Social Sciences by : Helmut Staubmann

Download or read book Rationality in the Social Sciences written by Helmut Staubmann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents for the first time a collection of historically important papers written on the concept of rationality in the social sciences. In 1939-40, the famed Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter and the famous sociologist Talcott Parsons convened a faculty seminar at Harvard University on the topic of rationality. The first part includes their essays as well as papers by the Austrian phenomenologist Alfred Schütz, the sociologist Wilbert Moore, and the economist Rainer Schickele. Several younger economists and sociologists with bright futures also participated, including Alex Gerschenkron, John Dunlop, Paul M. Sweezy, and Wassily W. Leontief, who was later awarded the Nobel Prize for developing input-output analysis. The second part presents essays and commentaries written by today’s internationally noted social scientists and addressing the topic of rationality in social action from a broad range of perspectives. The book’s third and final part shares the recently discovered correspondence between the seminar principals regarding the original but failed plan to publish its proceedings. It also includes letters, not previously published, between Richard Grathoff, Walter M. Sprondel and Talcott Parsons on the rationality seminar and the exchanges between Parsons and Schütz.

Autonomy, Rationality, and Contemporary Bioethics

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198858582
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis Autonomy, Rationality, and Contemporary Bioethics by : Jonathan Pugh

Download or read book Autonomy, Rationality, and Contemporary Bioethics written by Jonathan Pugh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal autonomy is often lauded as a key value in contemporary Western bioethics, and the claim that there is an important relationship between autonomy and rationality is often treated as an uncontroversial claim in this sphere. Yet, there is also considerable disagreement about how we should cash out the relationship between rationality and autonomy. In particular, it is unclear whether a rationalist view of autonomy can be compatible with legal judgments that enshrine a patient's right to refuse medical treatment, regardless of whether ". . . the reasons for making the choice are rational, irrational, unknown or even non-existent". In this book, I bring recent philosophical work on the nature of rationality to bear on the question of how we should understand autonomy in contemporary bioethics. In doing so, I develop a new framework for thinking about the concept, one that is grounded in an understanding of the different roles that rational beliefs and rational desires have to play in personal autonomy. Furthermore, the account outlined here allows for a deeper understanding of different form of controlling influence, and the relationship between our freedom to act, and our capacity to decide autonomously. I contrast my rationalist with other prominent accounts of autonomy in bioethics, and outline the revisionary implications it has for various practical questions in bioethics in which autonomy is a salient concern, including questions about the nature of informed consent and decision-making capacity.

Rationality and Irrationality in Economics

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Publisher : Verso Books
ISBN 13 : 178168037X
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (816 download)

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Book Synopsis Rationality and Irrationality in Economics by : Maurice Godelier

Download or read book Rationality and Irrationality in Economics written by Maurice Godelier and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2014-08-26 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the result of a research project begun by the author in 1958 with the aim of answering two questions: First, what is the rationality of the economic systems that appear and disappear throughout history—in other words, what is their hidden logic and the underlying necessity for them to exist, or to have existed? Second, what are the conditions for a rational understanding of these systems—in other words, for a fully developed comparative economic science? The field of investigation opened up by these two questions is vast, touching on the foundations of social reality and on how to understand them. The author, being a Marxist, sought the answers, as he writes, ‘not in philosophy or by philosophical means, but in and through examining the knowledge accumulated by the sciences.’ The stages of his journey from philosophy to economics and then to anthropology are indicated by the divisions of his book. Godelier rejects, at the outset, any attempt to tackle the question of rationality or irrationality of economic science and of economic realities from the angle of an a priori idea, a speculative definition of what is rational. Such an approach can yield only, he feels, an ideological result. Rather, he treats the appearance and disappearance of social and economic systems in history as being governed by a necessity ‘wholly internal to the concrete structures of social life.

Bayesian Rationality

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198524498
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (985 download)

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Book Synopsis Bayesian Rationality by : Mike Oaksford

Download or read book Bayesian Rationality written by Mike Oaksford and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-02-22 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For almost 2,500 years, the Western concept of what is to be human has been dominated by the idea that the mind is the seat of reason - humans are, almost by definition, the rational animal. In this text a more radical suggestion for explaining these puzzling aspects of human reasoning is put forward.

The Rationality of Perception

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198797087
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (987 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rationality of Perception by : Susanna Siegel

Download or read book The Rationality of Perception written by Susanna Siegel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an important division in the human mind between perception and reasoning. We reason from information that we have already, but perception is a means of taking in new information. Susanna Siegel argues that these two aspects of the mind become deeply intertwined when beliefs, fears, desires, or prejudice influence what we perceive.