December 20, 2017, by apych2

Being ‘rational’ and what you CAN’T expect……

This morning I attended a philosophy lecture on a paper by Laurie Paul, and it was actually worth getting up for! (9ams….the struggle is real)

I’ll admit I was still waking up when I first arrived, but the question “Is that rational?” Is one I ask regularly.

REAL TALK: Paul’s ideas were interesting, so much so that I’ll summarise them for ya.

When you have a decision to make, the natural thing to do is to weigh up the different things could happen as each will have pros and cons.  Selecting the best overall outcome is a rational decision  (according to idealised models).

The decision to go out for pizza – instead of having spaghetti hoops for dinner (again…) – after a marathon library session was rational as it had the best overall outcome.

Eating spaghetti hoops would have been irrational as it doesn’t bring about the best overall outcome.

BUT… what if we don’t know what something is like/ can’t figure it out?

Paul argues we are wrong in thinking we can make rational life changing decisions if we haven’t had the ‘transformative experience’ ourselves.

Before I came to uni I visited friends, visited halls, saw rooms etc… but moving into halls, for me was definitely a transformative experience! Basically, a lack of experience of uni life caused me to lack the corresponding knowledge. So on Paul’s view, this decision was non rational.

I really enjoyed this philosophy lecture, but it did make me a bit stressed and unsettled.. It’s weird to think that I can’t make rational decisions about important life choices

I’ve decided to not overthink these distinctions or dwell too much on them.. but I hope you’ve found this useful or interesting at least!

 

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