Rationality - Revision history

Tom: /* Critiques and Real-World Complexities */

2025-06-03T23:48:12Z

‎Critiques and Real-World Complexities

Tom: /* Governance */

2025-06-02T01:40:50Z

‎Governance

Tom: /* Governance */

2025-06-02T01:35:39Z

‎Governance

Tom: /* Full Title or Meme */

2025-06-02T01:32:21Z

‎Full Title or Meme

Tom: /* Governance */

2025-05-28T05:10:28Z

‎Governance

Tom at 05:02, 28 May 2025

2025-05-28T05:02:13Z

Tom: /* Context */

2025-05-28T04:43:56Z

‎Context

Tom: /* Full Title or Meme */

2022-09-08T22:54:26Z

‎Full Title or Meme

Tom: /* Full Title or Meme */

2022-09-08T22:53:27Z

‎Full Title or Meme

Tom: /* Context */

2022-09-08T22:52:25Z

‎Context

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:48, 3 June 2025
Line 33:		Line 33:
	Normative, Not Descriptive: The belief that “all men can make rational decisions on their own future” serves as an ideal—one that inspires efforts toward education, transparency, and empowerment. It sets a benchmark for what a functioning, free society should strive for, even if actual human behavior often deviates from pure rationality.		Normative, Not Descriptive: The belief that “all men can make rational decisions on their own future” serves as an ideal—one that inspires efforts toward education, transparency, and empowerment. It sets a benchmark for what a functioning, free society should strive for, even if actual human behavior often deviates from pure rationality.

		+	===Crime and Punishment===
		+	We have fashioned our criminal-justice system around the assumption that people commit violent crimes rationally and purposefully, and are aware of the consequences. But, much more often, a violent act is the result of a sudden burst of frustration or anger.<ref>Malcolm Gladwell, ''What if we’re thinking about crime all wrong?'' New Yorker Magazine 2025-06-02</ref>
	===Critiques and Real-World Complexities===		===Critiques and Real-World Complexities===

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 they give up that pursuit—when they become specialists.
 ==Governance==
-When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action, it is assume that the most members of the public are capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used to inform a decision process. While the idea that individuals can make entirely rational decisions about their own futures is rooted in historical and philosophical traditions, it remains a subject of significant debate.
+When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action, it is assumed that most members of the public are capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used to inform a decision process. While the idea that individuals can make entirely rational decisions about their own futures is rooted in historical and philosophical traditions, it remains a subject of significant debate.
-Roots in Enlightenment Thought and Liberal Philosophy
+===Roots in Enlightenment Thought and Liberal Philosophy===
 Autonomy and Free Will: Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill championed the idea that individuals possess inherent reason and autonomy. They believed that, when free from coercion, people can deliberate and choose paths that best serve their interests and values. This view underlies much of our modern democratic and capitalist systems, which assume that each person is the best judge of their own needs.
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 Rational Choice Theory: In economics and political science, rational choice theory posits that individuals act as “homo economicus” – making decisions by logically weighing costs and benefits to maximize utility. Even if an approximation, this model supports policies and systems where decision-making is seen as a personal responsibility conducted through rational deliberation.
-Assumptions and Idealization
+===Assumptions and Idealization===
 A Starting Point for Policy: Many legal and political frameworks, such as the idea of personal liberty and consent, presume that every adult has the capacity to make informed decisions about their lives. This assumption is less about empirically verifying that everyone is perfectly rational and more about affirming the value of individual freedom and responsibility.
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 Normative, Not Descriptive: The belief that “all men can make rational decisions on their own future” serves as an ideal—one that inspires efforts toward education, transparency, and empowerment. It sets a benchmark for what a functioning, free society should strive for, even if actual human behavior often deviates from pure rationality.
-Critiques and Real-World Complexities
+===Critiques and Real-World Complexities===
 Bounded Rationality: Research by Herbert Simon, Daniel Kahneman, and others shows that human decision-making is often limited by cognitive biases, emotional influences, incomplete information, and the constraints of time and processing capacity. This concept of bounded rationality suggests that while people aim to be rational, their choices are frequently influenced by factors that lead to suboptimal or irrational outcomes.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 they give up that pursuit—when they become specialists.
 ==Governance==
-When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action assumes that the subject is capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used to inform a decision process. While the idea that individuals can make entirely rational decisions about their own futures is rooted in historical and philosophical traditions, it remains a subject of significant debate.
+When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action, it is assume that the most members of the public are capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used to inform a decision process. While the idea that individuals can make entirely rational decisions about their own futures is rooted in historical and philosophical traditions, it remains a subject of significant debate.
 Roots in Enlightenment Thought and Liberal Philosophy

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Full Title or Meme==
-As a basis for decision process [[Rationality]] has been assumed to be essentially. Unfortunately, rationality can be extrinsic, based on external knowledge obtained inductively from the exiting ecosystems, or intrinsic, based on a person's internal value system. The mixture of these two modes of thought in one person make rational decisions dependent on circumstances and not deterministic.
+As a basis for any decision process [[Rationality]] has been assumed to be essential. Unfortunately, rationality can be extrinsic, based on external knowledge obtained inductively from the exiting ecosystems, or intrinsic, based on a person's internal value system. The mixture of these two modes of thought in one person make rational decisions dependent on circumstances and not deterministic.
 ==Context==

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 they give up that pursuit—when they become specialists.
 ==Governance==
-When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action assumes that the subject is capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used
+When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action assumes that the subject is capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used to inform a decision process. While the idea that individuals can make entirely rational decisions about their own futures is rooted in historical and philosophical traditions, it remains a subject of significant debate.
-The idea that individuals can make entirely rational decisions about their own futures is rooted in historical and philosophical traditions, but it remains a subject of significant debate. Here’s why some people hold this view and the reasons it’s also challenged:
+Roots in Enlightenment Thought and Liberal Philosophy
 Autonomy and Free Will: Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill championed the idea that individuals possess inherent reason and autonomy. They believed that, when free from coercion, people can deliberate and choose paths that best serve their interests and values. This view underlies much of our modern democratic and capitalist systems, which assume that each person is the best judge of their own needs.
@@ Line 29: / Line 28: @@
 Assumptions and Idealization
 A Starting Point for Policy: Many legal and political frameworks, such as the idea of personal liberty and consent, presume that every adult has the capacity to make informed decisions about their lives. This assumption is less about empirically verifying that everyone is perfectly rational and more about affirming the value of individual freedom and responsibility.
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 Critiques and Real-World Complexities
 Bounded Rationality: Research by Herbert Simon, Daniel Kahneman, and others shows that human decision-making is often limited by cognitive biases, emotional influences, incomplete information, and the constraints of time and processing capacity. This concept of bounded rationality suggests that while people aim to be rational, their choices are frequently influenced by factors that lead to suboptimal or irrational outcomes.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Governance==
 When the consent of the public for approval of any course of action assumes that the subject is capable of making a rational choice. Modern legal and other governance systems assume that there is some [[Utility Function]] that can be used
 ==Refences==
 [[Category: Philosophy]]

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 By KARL R. POPPER
-BACK TO METHUSELAH ' was a progressive program, com-
+BACK TO METHUSELAH was a progressive program, compared with Back to Thales what Shaw offered us was an
-pared with ' Back to Thales what Shaw offered us was an
+improved expectation of life—something that was in the air, at any rate when he wrote. I have nothing to offer you, I am
-improved expectation of life—something that was in the air, at
+afraid, that is in the air to-day; for what I want to return to is the '''simple straightforward rationality''' of the Pre-Socratics. The simplicity and boldness of their questions is part of it, but more important still is the critical attitude which, as I shall try to show, was first developed in the Ionian School.
-The questions which the Pre-Socratics tried to answer were
+The questions which the Pre-Socratics tried to answer were primarily cosmological questions, but they also dealt with
-primarily cosmological questions, but they also dealt with
+questions of the theory of knowledge. It is my belief that philosophy must return to cosmology and to a simple theory of
-questions of the theory of knowledge. It is my belief that
+knowledge. There is at least one philosophical problem in which all thinking men are interested: the problem of understanding the world in which we live, including ourselves, who are
-philosophy must return to cosmology and to a simple theory of
+part of that world, and our knowledge of it. All science is cosmology, I believe, and for me the interest of philosophy as well as of science lies solely in their bold attempt to add to our knowledge of the world, and to the theory of our knowledge of the world. I am interested in Wittgenstein, for example, not
-knowledge. There is at least one philosophical problem in
+because of his linguistic philosophy, but because his Tractatus was a cosmological treatise, and because his theory of knowledge was closely linked with his cosmology.
 For me, philosophy as well as science lose all attraction when
 they give up that pursuit—when they become specialists.