Questions About Rationality

by Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (3)

Does it offer any new insights or examples for someone who's read 'Thinking, fast & slow', 'Predictably irrational', 'Algorithms to live by', and the likes?

Travis Rebello If you have read very many books about critical thinking and rationality, you will be familiar with the sort of diminishing marginal returns you get a…moreIf you have read very many books about critical thinking and rationality, you will be familiar with the sort of diminishing marginal returns you get after a while from any new books in the genre. Pinker's book has a very broad focus and so there should be at least something new here for you. But, depending on what you have read before, there will probably be much that you are already familiar with. For example, you will know about biases and heuristics from Thinking, Fast and Slow, but you may find interesting the work done to make sense of this in terms of ecological rationality. Pinker's book also presents a great variety of tools for thinking, and maybe some of these, such as signal detection theory, will be new to you, even if others aren't. The penultimate chapter, which attempts to explain why there appears to be such a scarcity of rationality lately, has many new insights, too. The book is also very funny and entertaining, so whatever is simply repetition for you may not be too boring. (less)

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I read Enlightenment Now in hardcover because the charts and graphs were critical to understanding it. Is "Rationality: what it is..." the same kind of book ? Better to read a physical copy or Audible?

Bad Horse There are IIRC 50 pages of charts & graphs, but if you're familiar with Venn diagrams, logic tables, and graphing functions, you should be able to und…moreThere are IIRC 50 pages of charts & graphs, but if you're familiar with Venn diagrams, logic tables, and graphing functions, you should be able to understand everything just from the text.(less)

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Does it also focus on the difference between rationality and intelligence, like the books of Keith Stanovich, maybe expand on it?

Travis Rebello The distinction is explored, with Stanovich's work cited. …moreThe distinction is explored, with Stanovich's work cited. (less)

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