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Jayson_Virissimo comments on Note on Terminology: "Rationality", not "Rationalism" - Less Wrong Discussion

28 Post author: Vladimir_Nesov 14 January 2011 09:21PM

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Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 15 January 2011 06:44:49PM *  9 points [-]

I think people confusing rationalism with one side of the age old rationalism/empiricism debate in philosophy is a much more probable event than someone confusing it with a faith based ideology.

Comment author: Tuukka_Virtaperko 10 October 2012 01:35:49AM 1 point [-]

According to Rationality (1989) by Nicholas Rescher, who is for all intents and purposes a rationalist in the sense LW (not academic philosophy) uses the word, the LW rationality is a faith based ideology. See confirmation holism by Quine, outlined in "The Two Dogmas of Empiricism". Rationality is insufficient to justify rationality with rational means, because to do so would presuppose that all means of justification are rational, which already implicitly assumes rationality. Hence, it cannot be refuted that rationality is based on faith. Rescher urges people to accept rationality nevertheless.