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Single Idea 12174

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

Full Idea

It is only rational beings who can be attentive without a motive; only rational beings who can be interested in that in which they have no interest.

Gist of Idea

Only rational beings are attentive without motive or concern

Source

Roger Scruton (Laughter [1982], §12)

Book Ref

Scruton,Roger: 'The Aesthetic Understanding' [Methuen 1983], p.165

A Reaction

Rational beings make long term plans, so they cannot prejudge which things may turn out to be of interest to them. Scruton (a Kantian) makes it sound a little loftier than it actually is.

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]
11046 Kantian principled rationality is recognition of a priori universal truths [Hanna]
11048 Humean Instrumental rationality is the capacity to seek contingent truths [Hanna]
11047 Hegelian holistic rationality is the capacity to seek coherence [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.]