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Full Idea
I think there are very good grounds for upholding the view that the feeling of rationality is constituted merely by the absence of any feelings of irrationality.
Gist of Idea
It seems that we feel rational when we detect no irrationality
Source
William James (The Sentiment of Rationality [1882], p.20)
Book Ref
James,William: 'Selected Writings of William James', ed/tr. Bird,Graham [Everyman 1995], p.20
A Reaction
A very interesting proposal. Nothing is more basic to logic (well, plausible versions of logic) than the principle of non-contradiction - perhaps because it is the foundation of our natural intellectual equipment.
Related Idea
Idea 22642 Man has an intense natural interest in the consistency of his own thinking [James]
| 23252 | Socrates first proposed that we are run by mind or reason [Socrates, by Frede,M] |
| 23307 | Aristotle makes belief a part of reason, but sees desires as separate [Aristotle, by Sorabji] |
| 72 | Assume our reason is in two parts, one for permanent first principles, and one for variable things [Aristotle] |
| 23311 | Aristotle sees reason as much more specific than our more everyday concept of it [Aristotle, by Frede,M] |
| 4017 | Descartes created the modern view of rationality, as an internal feature instead of an external vision [Descartes, by Taylor,C] |
| 19221 | Everybody overrates their own reasoning, so it is clearly superficial [Peirce] |
| 2899 | The fanatical rationality of Greek philosophy shows that they were in a state of emergency [Nietzsche] |
| 22643 | It seems that we feel rational when we detect no irrationality [James] |
| 9591 | The human intellect has not been, and cannot be, fully formalized [Nagel/Newman] |
| 23438 | Full rationality must include morality [Foot] |
| 7611 | Rationality is one part of our conception of human flourishing [Putnam] |
| 6651 | People are wildly inaccurate in estimating probabilities about an observed event [Lowe] |
| 6652 | 'Base rate neglect' makes people favour the evidence over its background [Lowe] |
| 6555 | We are also irrational, with a unique ability to believe in bizarre self-created fictions [Fogelin] |