The Psychology Podcast Steven Pinker || Why Rationality Matters
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Oct 14, 2021 In a captivating discussion, Steven Pinker, a renowned Harvard psychologist and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, explores the essence of rationality. He dives into its connection to truth and the trade-offs in decision-making. The conversation reveals the limits of strategic irrationality and the challenge of navigating societal beliefs. Pinker also highlights the critical relationship between rationality and social justice, urging listeners to adapt rational tools for greater good, while pondering the meanings of acceptable fiction in our changing times.
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Reason's Purpose
- Reason is a means to an end, helping achieve goals using knowledge, but it doesn't dictate the goals themselves.
- Rationality helps navigate conflicting goals and moral dilemmas, but emotions and motivations are valid.
Defining Rationality
- Pinker defines rationality as using knowledge to attain goals, merging instrumental and epistemic rationality.
- Even epistemic rationality involves goals, like understanding the world, not just stating true facts.
Meta-Rationality and Goal Conflicts
- Goal conflicts arise even between long-term objectives, requiring wisdom to adjudicate personal goals.
- Rationality is meta, recursively evaluating goals, similar to how we embed propositions within propositions.
