Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
A fascinating history that reveals the ways in which the pursuit of rationality often leads to an explosion of irrationality
It’s a story we can’t stop telling ourselves. Once, humans were benighted by superstition and irrationality, but then the Greeks invented reason. Later, the Enlightenment enshrined rationality as the supreme value. Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the “rational animal.” But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today—from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump—Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite. From sex and music to religion and war, irrationality makes up the greater part of human life and history.
Rich and ambitious, Irrationality ranges across philosophy, politics, and current events. Challenging conventional thinking about logic, natural reason, dreams, art and science, pseudoscience, the Enlightenment, the internet, jokes and lies, and death, the book shows how history reveals that any triumph of reason is temporary and reversible, and that rational schemes, notably including many from Silicon Valley, often result in their polar opposite. The problem is that the rational gives birth to the irrational and vice versa in an endless cycle, and any effort to permanently set things in order sooner or later ends in an explosion of unreason. Because of this, it is irrational to try to eliminate irrationality. For better or worse, it is an ineradicable feature of life.
Illuminating unreason at a moment when the world appears to have gone mad again, Irrationality is fascinating, provocative, and timely.
Related to Irrationality
Related ebooks
The End Is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Should We Be Worried About?: Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Convergence: The Idea at the Heart of Science Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Science and Emotions after 1945: A Transatlantic Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?: The Net's Impact on Our Minds and Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philosophy of Biology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Construction of Social Reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Have You Changed Your Mind About?: Today's Leading Minds Rethink Everything Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5AIQ: How People and Machines Are Smarter Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Debt: Ethics, the Environment, and the Economy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This Will Change Everything: Ideas That Will Shape the Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Philosophy For You
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Western Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Irrationality
1 rating0 reviews