There’s a difference between acting rationally and applying rationality.
I believe most of us act rationally, in the sense that we optimize for our best outcomes based on what we think and believe at the time, based on what we’re aware of in the moment, the information we consciously have access to in that moment. Beware that this approach is heavily influenced by the biases we carry; each of us has our own unique collection of unseen tendencies.
Applying rationality, in contrast, has more to do with the application of rational approaches (and ideally to integrate these with the rest of what we think and believe)… This means, checking our biases, accounting for our unseen tendencies, and putting into practice skillsets like research (beyond following instagram links & skimming flashy youtube videos), vetting sources, learning the history of a topic, etc.
It’s about getting to, as my partner often says, the broadest and deepest truthful framework that we can access. In other words, we live inside of many contexts, and the more aware we are of the contexts by which we’re impacted, the more agency we will have in moving through the world amidst those contexts.
Examples:
- Acting rationally: I vote based on who my friends are voting for; I just don’t have time to do the research myself, and don’t really think I need to, because I trust my friends. I make the best decision I can based on the information I already have.
- Applying rationality: I know that there are many forces at play trying to manipulate how we vote, or don’t vote. I know that voter suppression has been the downfall of other democracies and that the manipulation is increasingly sophisticated with social media micro-targeting, so I somehow prioritize doing the research. I look for vetted, evidence-based sources and read nonpartisan reviews about how the candidates have acted in the past and make my decision in an informed way.
Worldviews are part of what I am informed by in all this. This is coming out of Integral Theory and specifically, the stages of development as articulated by Clare Graves and Don Beck in their work on Spiral Dynamics. (I will write more about this in time; if you’re interested, look up the model of Spiral Dynamics, and for more on the Integral Theory that integrates this knowledge into a broader philosophical framework, explore resources like Integral Life.)
We are each centered in a worldview that you can think of as the lens through which we experience our lives. In healthy development, just like an infant moves through developmental stages, so can we as adults. There is inherent value to each worldview, and while one is not inherently “better” than another, there are worldviews that are more comprehensive, more accurate, and account for complexities with more nuance. Per integral theory, as we develop, we transcend and include the worldviews we are moving through. Each worldview has its gifts, and also has its unexamined biases and unseen tendencies. Similar to how a toddler goes through an egocentric phase and then ideally moves beyond it, ideally we would integrate the gifts of healthy ego rather than discard ego altogether.
Rationality is a worldview. At the risk of over-simplifying, I will say for now that what I’m talking about with “Integrating the Gifts of Rationality” is to integrate this worldview. Note:
- Some worldviews have yet to embrace rationality at all – they are pre-rational.
- Others believe they are post-rational & can now discard rationality — oops!
- The goal I’m talking about is to integrate rationality along with other gifts, to include and honor that these gifts can be complementary.
If the collective aspiration is to get to a truly post-rational (aka trans-rational) society, then we must accept that society must integrate an applied rationality, even when it challenges our individual and collective magical and mythical beliefs. In a post-rational worldview, we would understand that systemically applying rationality even to matters of the heart, for example, will yield better outcomes. Again, this is a both-and, rather than an either-or. We need all the gifts! We need all of us.
If you want what visible reality can give, you’re an employee.
~ Rumi
If you want the unseen world, you’re not living your truth.
Both wishes are foolish,
But you’ll be forgiven for forgetting
that what you really want is love’s confusing joy.
To repurpose another quote I appreciate: The greater our awareness is of our own worldview, the greater is our freedom to choose.
When we are not aware of the biases and unseen tendencies that influence us or our social circles, then we are vulnerable to manipulation. Similarly, when we are not aware of the broader and deeper frameworks which are the context within which we move, then we are vulnerable to manipulation. Of course, rationality in a vacuum also opens us up to vulnerabilities. Remember, it’s about honoring and integrating rather than either embracing as the only truth or rejecting completely as fully wrong.
So: How are you engaging with rationality? Where do you notice the limits of your ease with applying rationality?
Note: Please share what questions come up for you, or which areas you would like to hear or dialogue more about. I want to repeatedly affirm that I am a co-learner, desiring to engage and navigate together!