= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
ata comments on Note on Terminology: "Rationality", not "Rationalism" - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (51)
Agreed.
"Rationality" can also have some bad or incorrect-from-our-perspective connotations — Spock, Ayn Rand, sociopathic CDT-like agents in economic/game-theoretic models, etc. — but at least without the "ism" it doesn't sound like we're pledging our allegiance to an ideology, and we can explain what we mean by it without people saying "But philosophers X, Y, and Z were 'rationalists' and they didn't believe that!"
Another first response I tend to get:
"So, if it were rational to kill yourself, would you do it?"
What do you answer?
My honest answer would be "I don't know; I'd like to think so" but I suspect that would fail to communicate usefully.
Perhaps "Well, for example, if by killing myself I could save the lives of ten other people whose lives were roughly as worthwhile as mine, then I'd like to think I would... though of course you never know until the moment for decision arrives. What would you do in that situation?"