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Oscar_Cunningham comments on Open Thread for February 11 - 17 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Coscott 11 February 2014 06:08PM

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Comment author: Lumifer 14 February 2014 05:17:27PM 4 points [-]

An interesting quote, I wonder what people here will make of it...

True rationalists are as rare in life as actual deconstructionists are in university English departments, or true bisexuals in gay bars. In a lifetime spent in hotbeds of secularism, I have known perhaps two thoroughgoing rationalists—people who actually tried to eliminate intuition and navigate life by reasoning about it—and countless humanists, in Comte’s sense, people who don’t go in for God but are enthusiasts for transcendent meaning, for sacred pantheons and private chapels. They have some syncretic mixture of rituals: they polish menorahs or decorate Christmas trees, meditate upon the great beyond, say a silent prayer, light candles to the darkness.

source

Comment author: Oscar_Cunningham 14 February 2014 08:18:30PM 8 points [-]

I can't tell if the author means "rationalists" in the technical sense (i.e. as opposed to empiricists) but if he doesn't then I think it's unfair of him to require that rationalists "eliminate intuition and navigate life by reasoning about it", since this is so clearly irrational (because intuition is so indispensably powerful).