Why is "speaking rationally" a worthwhile goal,
anyway? It’s not self-evident, at least not to many people. Human beings
certainly don’t seem made for it. Aristotle may have famously dubbed us
"the rational animal," but cognitive science tells a different story,
with plenty of evidence that our brains blithely flout logic all the
time and are excellent at rationalizing our irrational decisions after
the fact. Indeed, it is reasonable to ask why fight our irrational
natures to begin with? After all, some argue that irrationality can make
us happier, at least in certain situations. Then again, perhaps there
is a problem with the whole idea of arguing for irrationality...
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