Comment on Rationally Irrational

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:36:15 GMT

Let's play this out with an example.

Imagine I have a goal of running a marathon. To do that, I run every day to increase my endurance. One day, I trip and fall, twisting my ankle. My doctor tells me that if I run on the ankle, I will cause myself permanent injury. Using my powers of rationality, I decide to stop running until my ankle has healing, to avoid the permanent injury that would prevent me from achieving my goal of running a marathon.

Is my decision to stop training for the marathon, which inevitably moves my goal of running in a marathon further away, "rationally irrational"? Or is there something wrong with my example?

Discuss