#rationality

The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing the standard of their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to other habits of mind. As they perceive that they succeed in resolving without assistance all the little difficulties which their practical life presents, they readily conclude that everything in the world may be explained, and that nothing in it transcends the limits of the understanding. Thus they fall to denying what they cannot comprehend; which leaves them but little faith for whatever is extraordinary, and an almost insurmountable distaste for whatever is supernatural. ↗

— Alexis de Tocqueville

#rationality #faith

Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food. ↗

— Austin O'Malley

#irrationality #memory #food

Intellectually, what is stimulating to a young man is a problem of obvious practical importance. A young man learning economics, for example, ought to hear lectures from individualists and socialists, protectionists and free-traders, inflationists and believers in the gold standard. He ought to be encouraged to read the best books of the various schools, as recommended by those who believe in them. This would teach him to weigh arguments and evidence, to know that no pinion is certainly right, and to judge men by their quality rather than by their consonance with preconceptions. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#learning #objectivity #rationality #subjectivity #truth

The sexual mechanisms of the two genders are just not compatible, that’s the horrible truth of it. (...) This is a truth we dare not acknowledge these days - because sameness is our religion and heretics are no more welcome now than they ever were - but I’m going to acknowledge it, because I’ve always felt that humility before the facts is the only thing that keeps a rational man together. Be humble in the face of facts, and proud in the face of opinions, as George Bernard Shaw once said. He didn’t, actually. I just wanted to put some authority behind this observation of mine, because I know you’re not going to like it. ↗

— Hugh Laurie

#rationality #sex #religion

When it is not in our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable. ↗

— René Descartes

#rationality #truth #wisdom #logic

To be against rationalization is not the same as to be opposed to reasoning. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#logic #rationalisation #reason #september- #iraq

Education levels are highly and negatively correlated to religious belief. In other words, ignorance is bliss. ↗

— Cesar Nascimento

#atheism #belief #rationalism #rationality #religion

Rationality is not one of this industry's attributes. ↗

— Scott Hamilton

#industry #rationality

Selfishness is a bad habit. That’s why I always rationally think through my decisions to act without regard for others. ↗

— Bauvard

#habit #rationality #selfishness #funny

Interestingly, human irrationality is a hot topic in economics at the moment. Behavioural economics it's called, on the cusp of economics and psychology. ↗

— Evan Davis

#called #cusp #economics #hot #human