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Single Idea 23743

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality ]

Full Idea

It would be a superhuman task just to write down an explicit, non-summary style, statement of the platitudes that capture our idea of what it is to be fully rational.

Gist of Idea

Capturing all the common sense facts about rationality is almost impossible

Source

Michael Smith (The Moral Problem [1994], 5.9)

Book Ref

Smith,Michael: 'The Moral Problem' [Blackwell 1994], p.163

A Reaction

Well said. Philosophers are inclined to make simplistic binary judgements about whether persons or animals are rational. A visit to YouTube will show fish acting extremely rationally.

Related Idea

Idea 22 Trained minds never expect more precision than is possible [Aristotle]

The 28 ideas with the same theme [general capacity for reason and logic]:

4326 Aristotle gives a superior account of rationality, because he allows emotions to participate [Hursthouse on Aristotle]
23265 The rational part of the soul is the desire for truth, understanding and recollection [Galen]
7650 All thought is feeling, and rationality is the sensitive soul contemplating reasoning [La Mettrie]
8687 Kantian 'intuition' is the bridge between pure reason and its application to sense experiences [Kant, by Friend]
19451 When absorbed in deep reflection, is your reason in control, or is it you? [Feuerbach]
19248 Reasoning involves observation, experiment, and habituation [Peirce]
24081 Most of our intellectual activity is unconscious [Nietzsche]
7171 Rationality is a scheme we cannot cast away [Nietzsche]
22650 How can the ground of rationality be itself rational? [James]
5369 It is rational to believe in reality, despite the lack of demonstrative reasons for it [Russell]
3967 Absence of all rationality would be absence of thought [Davidson]
6951 Ordinary rationality is conservative, starting from where your beliefs currently are [Harman]
22662 In the instrumental view of rationality it only concerns means, and not ends [Nozick]
22663 Rationality is normally said to concern either giving reasons, or reliability [Nozick]
22666 Is it rational to believe a truth which leads to permanent misery? [Nozick]
22667 Rationality needs some self-consciousness, to also evaluate how we acquired our reasons [Nozick]
2450 Rationality has mental properties - autonomy, productivity, experiment [Fodor]
12174 Only rational beings are attentive without motive or concern [Scruton]
23743 Capturing all the common sense facts about rationality is almost impossible [Smith,M]
4765 Stich accepts eliminativism (labelled 'pragmatism') about rationality and normativity [Stich, by Engel]
4629 Consistency is the cornerstone of rationality [Baggini /Fosl]
11047 Hegelian holistic rationality is the capacity to seek coherence [Hanna]
11048 Humean Instrumental rationality is the capacity to seek contingent truths [Hanna]
11046 Kantian principled rationality is recognition of a priori universal truths [Hanna]
11067 Rational animals have a normative concept of necessity [Hanna]
11068 One tradition says talking is the essence of rationality; the other says the essence is logic [Hanna]
20990 Rationality is conformity to reasons that can be sustained even after scrutiny [Sen]
16419 No one has yet devised a rationality test [New Sci.]