The Normativity of Rationality

Sometimes our intentions and beliefs exhibit a structure that proves us to be irrational. Is there anything wrong with that? Should we be rational rather than irrational? This is the question that this book seeks to answer. Intuitively, the answer to this question is ‘yes’. Calling someone irrational amounts to a form of criticism. By doing so, we seem to imply that the person in question has made some kind of mistake, that her mental attitudes are in need of revision. Ordinary attributions of irrationality thus seem to presuppose that rationality is normative. This understanding is also implicit in many traditional approaches to rationality. In recent years, however, the normativity of rationality has come…