The enigma of reason / Hugo Mercier, Dan Sperber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mercier, Hugo, author.

Sperber, Dan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reason.

Reason--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

vi, 396 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn't it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings of reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber set out to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue with a compelling mix of real-life and experimental evidence, is not geared to solitary use, to arriving at better beliefs and decisions on our own. What reason does, rather, is help us justify our beliefs and actions to others, convince them through argumentation, and evaluate the justifications and arguments that others address to us. In other words, reason helps humans better exploit their uniquely rich social environment. This interactionist interpretation explains why reason may have evolved and how it fits with other cognitive mechanisms. It makes sense of strengths and weaknesses that have long puzzled philosophers and psychologists--why reason is biased in favor of what we already believe, why it may lead to terrible ideas and yet is indispensable to spreading good ones.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: A double enigma

Part I. Shaking dogma: Reason on trial

Psychologists' travails

Part II. Understanding inference: From unconscious inferences to intuitions

Modularity

Cognitive opportunism

Metarepresentations

Part III. Rethinking reason: How we use reasons

Could reason be a module?

Reasoning: intuition and reflection

Reason: what is it for?

Part IV. What reason can and cannot do

Why is reasoning biased?

Quality control: how we evaluate arguments

The dark side of reason

A reason for everything

The bright side of reasoning

Part V. Reason in the wild: Is human reason universal?

Reasoning about moral and political topics

Solitary geniuses?

Conclusion: In praise of reason after all.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674368309

0674368304

OCLC:

959650235