The Real is Not the Rational

The Real is Not the Rational
Author: Joan Stambaugh
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 148
Release: 1986-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780887061660

What is real? What is man? Beginning with these two fundamental questions, The Real is not the Rational searches back into the history of philosophy for the development of these issues. It presents selected key stages in the history of the rationalist tradition, indicating the direction in which rationalism sought what is real. The role of non-rationalist tendencies within rationalism and the shift to an emphasis on the irrational in the nineteenth century are also examined. The study seeks alternatives to the rational-irrational dilemma--alternatives found in Heidegger, who takes the non-rational seriously. It also looks for alternatives in Buddhism, which dissolves the dichotomy between the rational and the irrational since its prime concern was never with reason, but has always been soteriological.

The Actual and the Rational

The Actual and the Rational
Author: Jean-François Kervégan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2018-07-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 022602394X

One of Hegel’s most controversial and confounding claims is that “the real is rational and the rational is real.” In this book, one of the world’s leading scholars of Hegel, Jean-François Kervégan, offers a thorough analysis and explanation of that claim, along the way delivering a compelling account of modern social, political, and ethical life. ?Kervégan begins with Hegel’s term “objective spirit,” the public manifestation of our deepest commitments, the binding norms that shape our existence as subjects and agents. He examines objective spirit in three realms: the notion of right, the theory of society, and the state. In conversation with Tocqueville and other theorists of democracy, whether in the Anglophone world or in Europe, Kervégan shows how Hegel—often associated with grand metaphysical ideas—actually had a specific conception of civil society and the state. In Hegel’s view, public institutions represent the fulfillment of deep subjective needs—and in that sense, demonstrate that the real is the rational, because what surrounds us is the product of our collective mindedness. This groundbreaking analysis will guide the study of Hegel and nineteenth-century political thought for years to come.

Rational Causation

Rational Causation
Author: Eric Marcus
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2012-05-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0674065336

We explain what people think and do by citing their reasons, but how do such explanations work, and what do they tell us about the nature of reality? Contemporary efforts to address these questions are often motivated by the worry that our ordinary conception of rationality contains a kernel of supernaturalism-a ghostly presence that meditates on sensory messages and orchestrates behavior on the basis of its ethereal calculations. In shunning this otherworldly conception, contemporary philosophers have focused on the project of "naturalizing" the mind, viewing it as a kind of machine that converts sensory input and bodily impulse into thought and action. Eric Marcus rejects this choice between physicalism and supernaturalism as false and defends a third way. He argues that philosophers have failed to take seriously the idea that rational explanations postulate a distinctive sort of causation-rational causation. Rational explanations do not reveal the same sorts of causal connections that explanations in the natural sciences do. Rather, rational causation draws on the theoretical and practical inferential abilities of human beings. Marcus defends this position against a wide array of physicalist arguments that have captivated philosophers of mind for decades. Along the way he provides novel views on, for example, the difference between rational and nonrational animals and the distinction between states and events.

Simply Rational

Simply Rational
Author: Gerd Gigerenzer
Publisher: Evolution and Cognition
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2015
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 019939007X

Statistical illiteracy can have an enormously negative impact on decision making. This volume of collected papers brings together applied and theoretical research on risks and decision making across the fields of medicine, psychology, and economics. Collectively, the essays demonstrate why the frame in which statistics are communicated is essential for broader understanding and sound decision making, and that understanding risks and uncertainty has wide-reaching implications for daily life. Gerd Gigerenzer provides a lucid review and catalog of concrete instances of heuristics, or rules of thumb, that people and animals rely on to make decisions under uncertainty, explaining why these are very often more rational than probability models. After a critical look at behavioral theories that do not model actual psychological processes, the book concludes with a call for a heuristic revolution that will enable us to understand the ecological rationality of both statistics and heuristics, and bring a dose of sanity to the study of rationality.

Rational Approximation of Real Functions

Rational Approximation of Real Functions
Author: P. P. Petrushev
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2011-03-03
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780521177405

This 1987 book examines the approximation of real functions by real rational functions. These are a more convenient tool than polynomials, and interest in them was growing, especially after D. Newman's work in the mid-sixties. The authors present the basic achievements of the subject and also discuss some topics from complex rational approximation.

Rationality

Rationality
Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0241380308

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 'Punchy, funny and invigorating ... Pinker is the high priest of rationalism' Sunday Times 'If you've ever considered taking drugs to make yourself smarter, read Rationality instead. It's cheaper, more entertaining, and more effective' Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind In the twenty-first century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that discovered vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theorizing? In Rationality, Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply an irrational species - cavemen out of time fatally cursed with biases, fallacies and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives and set the benchmarks for rationality itself. Instead, he explains, we think in ways that suit the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we have built up over millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, causal inference, and decision-making under uncertainty. These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book - until now. Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower. 'A terrific book, much-needed for our time' Peter Singer

The Rational Public

The Rational Public
Author: Benjamin I. Page
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2010-05-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226644804

This monumental study is a comprehensive critical survey of the policy preferences of the American public, and will be the definitive work on American public opinion for some time to come. Drawing on an enormous body of public opinion data, Benjamin I. Page and Robert Y. Shapiro provide the richest available portrait of the political views of Americans, from the 1930's to 1990. They not only cover all types of domestic and foreign policy issues, but also consider how opinions vary by age, gender, race, region, and the like. The authors unequivocally demonstrate that, notwithstanding fluctuations in the opinions of individuals, collective public opinion is remarkably coherent: it reflects a stable system of values shared by the majority of Americans and it responds sensitively to new events, arguments, and information reported in the mass media. While documenting some alarming case of manipulation, Page and Shapiro solidly establish the soundness and value of collective political opinion. The Rational Public provides a wealth of information about what we as a nation have wanted from government, how we have changed our minds over the years, and why. For anyone interested in the short- and long-term trends in Americans' policy preferences, or eager to learn what Americans have thought about issues ranging from racial equality to the MX missile, welfare to abortion, this book offers by far the most sophisticated and detailed treatment available.

The Normativity of Rationality

The Normativity of Rationality
Author: Benjamin Kiesewetter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2017
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0198754280

Benjamin Kiesewetter defends the normativity of rationality by presenting a new solution to the problems that arise from the common assumption that we ought to be rational. Drawing on an extensive and careful assessment of the problems discussed in the literature, Kiesewetter provides a detailed defence of a reason-response conception of rationality, a novel, evidence-relative account of reasons, and an explanation of structural irrationality in terms of theseaccounts.

Political Theory

Political Theory
Author: VD Mahajan
Publisher: S. Chand Publishing
Total Pages: 936
Release: 2006
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9788121903691

This is new edition contains a comprehensive study of the subject, with the latest thinking by the political scientists of thw world today.

Logic and the Nature of Reality

Logic and the Nature of Reality
Author: Louis O. Kattsoff
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9401192820

This book is not merely about metaphysics; it is an essay in metaphysics. Furthermore, it is written in the firm conviction that metaphysics is possible and meaningful metaphysical statements can and should be made. However, I felt it necessary to approach the perennial problems of metaphysics through the avenues of linguistic analysis. I have tried not only to infiltrate the position of the linguists but to show that a fifth column already existed there. Yet the objections to metaphysics needed to be met or at least some indication of how they could be met had to be shown. It is never enough to demonstrate that objections are un founded - some positive indications of a possible metaphysics had to be offered. This book, as a consequence, tries also to draw at least in broad outline, a metaphysical position that seems to me to be well-founded. In the present state of philoso phy in the United States especially, this is sufficient reason for publishing another book in philosophy. I want to express my appreciation to a number of people. To my colleagues at North Carolina I am grateful for stimulating criticisms that often helped me see my way through to solutions. To Professors B. Blanshard (Yale University), and Ledger Wood (Princeton University), I am grateful for reading the manuscript.