Posted: Sep 11, 2018 9:22 am
wisedupearly wrote:Thommo wrote:
Daily life is founded far more on habit, routine and the satisfaction of basic needs without a broader intellectual framework, in reality.
Quick response. More to follow
Why do you throw away so much of your life as being habit, routine, no broader intellectual framework?
What do you mean throw away? I'm informing you of how I, and realistically you and everyone else as well, experience my decision to eat. I eat at roughly fixed times of day, which although having some measure of reason behind them are as much down to social convention and daily routine as to when I actually get hungry, or what would maintain the best equilibrium in my blood sugar levels, and have precious little to do with a "rational analysis" building things up from some appraisal of my own self-worth and whether that would be raised or lowered by eating or not at some particular time or another.
Decision making is a mish-mash of instinct, reasoning, heuristics, short cuts, attention and inattention.
wisedupearly wrote:You are not to blame as this attitude is baked into the de facto philosophy of modern Western society. As you are capable of rational thought why wouldn't you want to apply it to all parts of your life?
I'm not to blame because it's got nothing to do with philosophy and there's nothing negative happening for which to assign blame! I don't have a problem with getting enough to eat in the first place.
The reason not to apply "rational thought" to all parts of life is because there aren't enough hours in the day. I have to get things done, and that means trusting in conclusions I've reached before, habits I've established and numerous autonomous parts of my own brain function, from my respiration to learned skills like the movements needed to drive a car.
A lot of the time these things are done a-rationally, because it allows me to focus my limited cognitive resources on things that I value more at the time. That is to say that habit, routine and arational actions have a place in a rational overall strategy.
I'm certainly in favour of rationality as opposed to irrationality, but I would use the terms in a very different sense than you seem to be, which strikes me as being to rationality as scientism is to science.
wisedupearly wrote:When you think and act rationally in everyday life you are far from intellectualism as what you are working with and improving is right in front of you. It does depend on the approval of others, only your satisfaction.
You can argue about consciousness and free will until the cows come home to die and you will not have improved your life, your daily life at all.
It's very generous of you to give me permission to do so, but I don't actually tend to argue about consciousness or free will. I don't think I've participated in discussion of either for literally years. If you think that's what I've said here, then you are mistaken.