EntertainingIdeas
Transcript: Most people know that Rationality is a good thing and they usually assume or aspire to be rational themselves in their everyday life. There is however this sense that while it is good to be rational, it can sometimes be possible for a person to be too rational. Rationality is assumed to be a cold lifeless process, something a computer does, that requires being joyless and being blind to humor or emotions, sort of like the TV characters Sheldon Cooper and Mr Spock are portrayed.
In his most recent book Steven Pinker debunks many of the misconceptions surrounding rationality and he defines it simply as the use of knowledge to attain a goal. And rationality doesn’t tell you what that goal is. There‘s nothing irratoinal about enjoying a sunset, or going out to dance or falling in love. As Hume said, reason is the slave of passions, and it is the passions that ultimately determine your goals. In fact, it would be highly irrational to forgo pleasures like loving your children or your spouse. So contrary to popular belief, rationality certainly doesn‘t rule a rich emotional life, a passion for art and music and a sense of awe and wonder for the world.
Anybody can stand to benefit from introducing a little more rationality into their personal life. Even when it comes to aspects that are seemingly anithetical to rationality, like going out on a saturday evening and getting drunk with your friends. The decision whether or not to get drunk involves competing tradeoffs involving short term and long term pleasure. One thought might be „Ok, if i have fun now i‘m going to be a little hungover the next day and lacking energy for my assignment.“ On the other hand you could be having valuable experiences and making connection with others that last far beyond this one night.
If you‘re judging the trade offs correctly it may lead to staying sober, it could however lead to partying more often and going out more frequently.
One common way in which people tend to be irrational is, that they too steeply discount the wellbeing of their future self.
However there is actually good reason to value current pleasure over that of your future self, because the future is never 100% certain. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow.
There is also nothing inherently irrational about spiritual or religious persuits, as long as it‘s not at odds with other goals that the religious person might want to achieve. It is highly irrational to forgo a life saving chemo therapy to treat cancer and instead relying on prayer. Or putting your trust into an charismatic televangelist instead of modern science.
Some may think rationality is not for me, it‘s for the acadamics. But your already doing it and can‘t choose not to do it, and doing it better is not only compatible with deep enjoyment, it is necessary.
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