[lit-ideas] Re: It means nothing, absolutely nothing...

  • From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:00:12 -0700


On Oct 21, 2008, at 12:22 PM, wokshevs@xxxxxx wrote:


David's relief at hearing his professor's admission that he makes decisions
that
are "not entirely rational" may be somewhat premature. I would think he would find it worisome that rationality is amenable to a qualitative construal. "Rationality" on this view is scalar in that it admits of degrees. John McC exemplifies the confusion in endorsing the cogency of expressions such as "semi-rational decision-making." John goes on to shamelessly assert that he can't "recall a single life-changing decision that I decided rationally." I'm
not clear on how to interpret that remark. Clarification is welcome.

I am playing table tennis, watching the ball and my opponent carefully. I process all this information. There comes a moment when the patterns I have understood lead me to believe that I should hit one stroke, but my "gut instinct" says I should hit another. If this is "not entirely rational" it may be that not all the information I'm taking in and processing is coming to what we could call the surface of my mind.

I am considering the pros and cons of bringing a child into the world. I gather information on the size of the world's population and available food supply. I check the infant mortality rates in my neighborhood. I estimate the future costs of college and the likelihood that jobs will be available in twenty or so years. I look at charts of sunspot patterns and asteroid impacts. I go see a shrink and a physician and estimate my own parenting capabilities and chances of having a healthy child. And then, like someone on the edge of a swimming pool, I hesitate. Surely, at least in lay language, making up my mind to leap is a "not entirely rational" decision, one that goes beyond weighing evidence and coming to a sensible conclusion?

As for falling in love, choosing the night's whisky or ketchup, deciding how to adjust color in a painting...if the feeling of having your reason switched to "low" is any guide, they too might be called "not entirely rational"?

David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon

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