Conventional wisdom--where I come from, at least--tells us that we should ferret out inconsistencies in our beliefs and eliminate these inconsistencies. That's a big part of what it means to be a reasonable person. So, to take just one particularly stark example, I should not complacently accept an epistemic situation in which I believe that P … Continue reading Is Consistency Overrated?
Tag: rationality
A Rationality Pill?
Suppose that you are a person who suffers from what an economist would call a "high discount rate." You tend to attach very little importance to the long-term consequences of your actions. As a result, you smoke and drink a lot, eat a lot of bacon, are massively in debt, and so on. Then, someone … Continue reading A Rationality Pill?
Rawls and Rationality
A propos of a recent thread on whether it is irrational to reject Rawls's two principles of justice, I thought I would offer my decidedly uninformed take on the issue. From my summer Rawls reading, I'm inclined (thus far) to conclude that Rawls did not think that one must accept his two principles of justice … Continue reading Rawls and Rationality
Rawls [4], “Constitutional Liberty and the Concept of Justice” (1963)
When we last left Rawls, he was trying to identify the 'concept' of justice--that is, what it is we're attributing to a society when we call it 'just.' Rawls claimed that a 'just' society conforms to the two principles of justice--viz., (i) each person has an equal right to liberty consistent with the same liberty … Continue reading Rawls [4], “Constitutional Liberty and the Concept of Justice” (1963)
Rationality and Fantasy Baseball
Lately I’ve been thinking about rationality. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the ways that economic models presuppose that individuals consistently act in their rational self-interest (and what economists count as a rational self-interest). Lately, I’ve also been thinking about my fantasy baseball team. I know that many OPers play or have played in fantasy baseball … Continue reading Rationality and Fantasy Baseball
Original Positions 