Quotes About Rationality

Driven by a concern with institutions, we re-enter the world of the behavioralists. But we do so not in protest against the notion of rational choice, but rather in an effort to understand how rationality on the part of individuals leads to coherence at the level of society. (Bates 1988, p. 399)

Die wichtigste Lehre für die Politikanalyse und -gestaltung, die sich aus der hier skizzierten intellektuellen Reise ableiten lässt, lautet, dass Menschen komplexere Motivationsstrukturen und mehr Fähigkeiten zur Lösung sozialer Dilemmas mitbringen als die Theorie der rationalen Wahl annimmt.

True existence is only defined by rationality.

Gavin was not prey to the irrational hormonal urges of meat-a kindess for which he thanked his makers-but he was not without feelings.

What kind of a promise ? One that only a fool asks of a madman

Rather, it was more beneficial, and ultimately more rational, than ones put together by politicians or rulers, who are themselves creatures of their own passions and whims.

Any appeal to reason is hopeless, since "reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions": and the passions are the root of the problem.

All forms of humanism, Heidegger proclaimed, lead inevitably to metaphysics, since they presuppose a human being with a fixed rational nature. Instead of freeing man, the humanist view actually reduces Being's infinite possibilities to the dim, stunted creature of the modern age.

Not everything that makes deductive sense may be true.b But if it doesn't fit into a syllogism, Aristotle concluded, then don't bother asking if it's true or not.

Aristotle's theory of the mean seems simple-minded; or to quote Bertrand Russell again, common sense pedantically expressed. However, if we change the word mean to proportion, we get closer to what Aristotle must have meant—and large parts of his Ethics as well as his Politics make more sense. The mean represents not so much a literal middle point as striking a balance between conflicting impulses and choices, and seeing our way through to the other side.

We cannot unthink unless we are insane.

Hatred is an affair of the heart contempt that of the head.

While men are rational creatures they are justly accountable for all they do, whatever the disposition of their hearts.

You are impossible. You are only a realist, and therefore nothing happens to you.

The biggest shortage of all is the shortage of common sense.

The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes.

I have faith, but I have faith in human reason

I think, therefore I'll think.

Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.

Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing buy rational actions.

The head is the seat of intelligence. The heart is the seat of emotion.

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.

We are in a far better position to observe instincts in animals or in primitives than in ourselves. This is due to the fact that we have grown accustomed to scrutinizing our own actions and to seeking rational explanations for them.

Anything that gives us new knowledge gives us an opportunity to be more rational.