Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome | |||
| |||
Rationality, philosophy: rationality is the ability of a being to consciously adapt to a situation due to the generalizations of his experiences. It can also be rational to want to learn something new. See also system, order, creativity, discoveries, evaluation, repetition._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
---|---|---|---|
John Rawls on Rationality - Dictionary of Arguments
I 143 Rationality/Rawls: our view here is broadly in line with the standard model in social theory.(1)(2) The rational person/Rawls: be a person with a coherent set of preferences between options open to him/her. The person assesses the options with a view to his/her purposes. The person follows the plan that fulfils most of his/her wishes and has the better chances of success. >Goals, >Purposes, >Purpose/means rationality. Rawls: in addition, I rule out resentment. I 145 Initial state of a society to be established/Rawls: here we must assume that the persons involved have a sense of justice and the compliance of their principles and can expect this from others. They will know that agreements are not in vain. >Society/Rawls, >Veil of ignorance. I 418 Rationality/Rawls: the duration of a rational consideration must be taken into account, so that it becomes irrational at some point to look for the best plan. >Planning/Rawls. It is rational to follow a satisfactory plan if the expected results of further consideration do not compensate for the disadvantages of the loss of time. This assumes that a person has a certain decision-making competence with regard to his or her own situation when making rational decisions. I 422 The guiding principle for a rational individual in the pursuit of his or her plans should be that he or she will never have to blame himself or herself for the way in which these plans are ultimately realized. As an identical individual in time, it must be able to say that it has done in every moment what requires or at least allowed a weighing of the reasons.(3)(4) >Personal identity, >Responsibility. 1. Cf. Amartya Sen, Cellective Choice and Social Welfare, San Francisco, 1970. 2. K. J. Arrow, Social Choice and Individual Values, 2nd. Ed. New York, 1963. 3. See Charles Fried, Anatomy of Values, (Cambridge, 1970), pp. 158-169. 4. Th. Nagel, The Possibility of Altruism (Oxford, 1970), esp. ch. VIII._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Rawl I J. Rawls A Theory of Justice: Original Edition Oxford 2005 |