AlexU comments on Open Thread: April 2009 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: gjm 03 April 2009 01:57PM

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Comment author: AlexU 03 April 2009 10:41:07PM *  5 points [-]

Someone should do a post attempting to define what exactly "rationalism" is. Right now I see lots of discussion on how to build rationalist communities, whether rationalism always "wins," why you should be a rationalist, etc., but very little on what the content of this term is, and very little on how to be a rationalist. A newcomer could be excused for thinking that "rationalist" just means someone who goes around exhorting others to become rationalists. Maybe there's nothing wrong with that, though; perhaps rationalism, at its core, is simply reminding yourself and others to think hard about things at all times.

Comment author: thomblake 03 April 2009 10:51:55PM *  2 points [-]

see: http://lesswrong.com/lw/31/what_do_we_mean_by_rationality/ - comments here

ETA: maybe that's not the same question. Should we think about what a 'rationalist' is?