A Justice Site
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: December 18, 2001
Latest update: January 18, 2002
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Rationality and Knowingness
Journal entry by jeanne
Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individaul Authors, January 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.
The following PSN quote fits beautifully into our discussions of "knowingness."On Tuesday, December 18, 2001, Andrew McKinnon posted to PSN: on
"Usually, when someone says that something is "irrational", this can be translated into "I don't understand it". Thus, the discourses of "irrationality" usually are not analytic, but dismissive, and in fact encourage dismissiveness by allowing our perplexedness to pass for analysis. Even if Stevenson explicitly says this is not what he wants to do, I think that the discourses of rationality (what I believe) and irrationality (what they believe) encourages us to turn aside from real analysis."Andrew McKinnon post to PSN: on Tuesday, December 18, 2001. Trace the thread.
McKinnon's quote reminds us how easy it is to label with dichotomies. Rational / irrational lends itself to such dualism, when in fact the dichotomy merely divides us categorically and turns us towards rhetoric in place of "real analysis."
Related References:
- Hirschman, Albert O., The Rhetoric of Reaction. See The Conservative, Liberal, Radical Dilemma Discussion of Hirschman's definition of rhetoric instead of argument throughout.