Rationality in Action
Rationality in Action, by John R. Searle -- I love this book! The writing is incredibly lucid. (Why can't all philosophical writing be like this? Does Kant have to be so freakin' difficult?)

Searle's thesis is that the classical model of "practical reason," or reasoning that results in action, is dead wrong. What is the "classical model?" According to Searle:

1. Actions, where rational, are caused by beliefs and desires.
2. Rationality is a matter of following rules, the special rules that make the distinction between rational and irrational behavior.
   
3. Rationality is a separate cognitive faculty.
4. Apparent cases of weakness of will, what the ancient Greeks called akrasia, can only arise in cases where there is something wrong with the psychological antecedents of action.
5. Practical reason has to start with an inventory of the agent's primary goals and fundamental desires, objectives, and purposes; and these are not themselves subject to rational constraints.
6. The whole system of rationality only works if the set of primary desires is consistent.

I'll continue with Searle's critiques of each of these points in turn.
- posted by mike @ 8:37 PM