Rationality
noun
The quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic.
He advocated for rationality in the decision making process to avoid errors.
Often appears as...
- pure rationality
- bound rationality
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
noun
The capacity of an individual to make a reasonable decision or judgement.
Her rationality was questioned when she proposed to invest in an obsolete technology.
Often appears as...
- question one's rationality
- rationality in judgement
noun
The state of being sane or within the bounds of reason.
His abnormal behavior sparked doubts about his rationality.
Often appears as...
- lose one's rationality
- questioning rationality
noun
The quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic.
He advocated for rationality in the decision making process to avoid errors.
Often appears as...
- pure rationality
- bound rationality
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
noun
The capacity of an individual to make a reasonable decision or judgement.
Her rationality was questioned when she proposed to invest in an obsolete technology.
Often appears as...
- question one's rationality
- rationality in judgement
noun
The state of being sane or within the bounds of reason.
His abnormal behavior sparked doubts about his rationality.
Often appears as...
- lose one's rationality
- questioning rationality
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Common Misuse
Don't confuse 'rationality' with 'rationalization', which is justifying actions with logical reasons.
Using data increases rationality, not just rationalization, in choosing the right strategy.
Pro Tip 2/3Academic Tone
'Rationality' often appears in formal, especially academic texts, to describe objective thinking.
Economic theories assume a level of human rationality in market behaviors.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Always Positive
'Rationality' doesn't always mean something is good; sometimes it can lack emotion or compassion.
His rationality in firing employees disregarded the emotional impact on the team.
Compare with
coherenceintellectjudgementlogicprudentialreasonsensesound
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Video examples
Why it's so hard to make...
So social influence works in health care. So does tying it to notions of regret or to loss aversion. We would never think of using these tools if we thought that everyone was rational all the time. Now, just to be I am not condemning rationality. I mean, that really would be irrational.
Video examples
For the love of fangirls...
then how does that shape the way that those girls get to see themselves? And if girls grow up in a world that tells them that they are designed just a bit crazier than the boys, then isn't that a little bit like telling them that they are born less capable of rationality than men,
Video examples
A theory of everything PIPE...
It doesn't make quite as much money as body humor I'm sure -- but nevertheless, what makes us treasure you and adore you. There's also a contradiction in rationality in this country though, which is, as much as we revere the head, we are very anti-intellectual.
Video examples
How do we reason for a...
broadly scientific conception of rationality but not because those principles and the methods they endorse are more accurate although I do think they're more accurate but because using those sorts of principles in public debate respects our autonomy more it's
Video examples
Are we in control of our...
I've known heights of obsessive behavior I never thought about. Which I think is just fascinating. I will tell you a little bit about irrational behavior, and I want to start by giving you some examples of visual illusion as a metaphor for rationality.
Video examples
East vs west -- the...
and this understanding of our ancestors is transmitted generation from generation in the form of stories, symbols and rituals, which are always indifferent to rationality. And so, when you study it, you realize that different people of the world
Video examples
How science & reason...
Hitchens dictum after my friend Christopher Hitchens who said that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence you have to have reasons for your moral beliefs arguments rationality empirical evidence
Video examples
How to outsmart the...
In game theory, this scenario is called the “Prisoner's Dilemma.” To figure out how these gingerbread men will act in their perfect rationality, we can map the outcomes of each decision.
Video examples
Legendary Library of...
Sarah gelding is its first director it is certainly a dream that most of humanity has cherished the celebration of universal knowledge rationality tolerance respect for science and for
Video examples
Alexandria Library PIPE...
gelding is its first director it is certainly a dream that most of humanity has cherished the celebration of universal knowledge rationality tolerance respect for science and for
Video examples
Why it's so hard to make...
So social influence works in health care. So does tying it to notions of regret or to loss aversion. We would never think of using these tools if we thought that everyone was rational all the time. Now, just to be I am not condemning rationality. I mean, that really would be irrational.
Video examples
For the love of fangirls...
then how does that shape the way that those girls get to see themselves? And if girls grow up in a world that tells them that they are designed just a bit crazier than the boys, then isn't that a little bit like telling them that they are born less capable of rationality than men,
Video examples
A theory of everything PIPE...
It doesn't make quite as much money as body humor I'm sure -- but nevertheless, what makes us treasure you and adore you. There's also a contradiction in rationality in this country though, which is, as much as we revere the head, we are very anti-intellectual.
Video examples
How do we reason for a...
broadly scientific conception of rationality but not because those principles and the methods they endorse are more accurate although I do think they're more accurate but because using those sorts of principles in public debate respects our autonomy more it's
Video examples
Are we in control of our...
I've known heights of obsessive behavior I never thought about. Which I think is just fascinating. I will tell you a little bit about irrational behavior, and I want to start by giving you some examples of visual illusion as a metaphor for rationality.
Video examples
East vs west -- the...
and this understanding of our ancestors is transmitted generation from generation in the form of stories, symbols and rituals, which are always indifferent to rationality. And so, when you study it, you realize that different people of the world
Video examples
How science & reason...
Hitchens dictum after my friend Christopher Hitchens who said that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence you have to have reasons for your moral beliefs arguments rationality empirical evidence
Video examples
How to outsmart the...
In game theory, this scenario is called the “Prisoner's Dilemma.” To figure out how these gingerbread men will act in their perfect rationality, we can map the outcomes of each decision.
Video examples
Legendary Library of...
Sarah gelding is its first director it is certainly a dream that most of humanity has cherished the celebration of universal knowledge rationality tolerance respect for science and for
Video examples
Alexandria Library PIPE...
gelding is its first director it is certainly a dream that most of humanity has cherished the celebration of universal knowledge rationality tolerance respect for science and for
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Iain McGilchrist
British Writer
It is not rational to assume, without evidence, that rationality can disclose everything about the world, just because it can disclose some things. Our intuition in favour of rationality, where we are inclined to use it, is just that - an intuition. Reason is founded in intuition and ends in intuition, like a pair of massive bookends.
Quote examples
John Forbes Nash, Jr.
American Mathematician
I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However, this is not entirely a matter of joy, as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health. One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the cosmos.
Quote examples
Brian Eno
British Musician
When governments rely increasingly on sophisticated public relations agencies, public debate disappears and is replaced by competing propaganda campaigns, with all the accompanying deceits. Advertising isn't about truth or fairness or rationality, but about mobilising deeper and more primitive layers of the human mind.
Quote examples
Pope Benedict XVI
German Clergyman
I don't know if the term 'liberation theology,' which can be interpreted in a very positive sense, will help us much. What's important is the common rationality to which the church offers a fundamental contribution, and which must always help in the education of conscience, both for public and for private life.
Quote examples
Donella Meadows
American Environmentalist
I know that war and mayhem run in our blood. I refuse to believe that they must dominate our lives. We humans are animals, too, but animals with amazing powers of rationality, morality, society. We can use our strength and courage not to savage each other, but to defend our highest purposes.
Quote examples
Katherine Dunn
American Novelist
Non-fiction is a big responsibility. Rationality. Facts. The urgent need to reflect some small aspect of reality. But fiction is a private autism, a self-referential world in which the writer is omnipotent. Gravity, taxes, and death are mere options, subject to the writer's fancy.
Quote examples
Robert M. Pirsig
American Philosopher
The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon.
Quote examples
Lars von Trier
Danish Director
If one devalues rationality, the world tends to fall apart.
Quote examples
Marco Bizzarri
Italian Businessman
Sometimes emotions are more important than rationality.
Quote examples
Friedrich Nietzsche
German Philosopher
In everything one thing is impossible: rationality.
Quote examples
Iain McGilchrist
British Writer
It is not rational to assume, without evidence, that rationality can disclose everything about the world, just because it can disclose some things. Our intuition in favour of rationality, where we are inclined to use it, is just that - an intuition. Reason is founded in intuition and ends in intuition, like a pair of massive bookends.
Quote examples
John Forbes Nash, Jr.
American Mathematician
I seem to be thinking rationally again in the style that is characteristic of scientists. However, this is not entirely a matter of joy, as if someone returned from physical disability to good physical health. One aspect of this is that rationality of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation to the cosmos.
Quote examples
Brian Eno
British Musician
When governments rely increasingly on sophisticated public relations agencies, public debate disappears and is replaced by competing propaganda campaigns, with all the accompanying deceits. Advertising isn't about truth or fairness or rationality, but about mobilising deeper and more primitive layers of the human mind.
Quote examples
Pope Benedict XVI
German Clergyman
I don't know if the term 'liberation theology,' which can be interpreted in a very positive sense, will help us much. What's important is the common rationality to which the church offers a fundamental contribution, and which must always help in the education of conscience, both for public and for private life.
Quote examples
Donella Meadows
American Environmentalist
I know that war and mayhem run in our blood. I refuse to believe that they must dominate our lives. We humans are animals, too, but animals with amazing powers of rationality, morality, society. We can use our strength and courage not to savage each other, but to defend our highest purposes.
Quote examples
Katherine Dunn
American Novelist
Non-fiction is a big responsibility. Rationality. Facts. The urgent need to reflect some small aspect of reality. But fiction is a private autism, a self-referential world in which the writer is omnipotent. Gravity, taxes, and death are mere options, subject to the writer's fancy.
Quote examples
Robert M. Pirsig
American Philosopher
The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon.
Quote examples
Lars von Trier
Danish Director
If one devalues rationality, the world tends to fall apart.
Quote examples
Marco Bizzarri
Italian Businessman
Sometimes emotions are more important than rationality.
Quote examples
Friedrich Nietzsche
German Philosopher
In everything one thing is impossible: rationality.
Example 1 of 10
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