“There may be occasions when it is best to behave irrationally, but whether there are should be decided rationally.”

— I. J. Good

Good Thinking: The Foundations of Probability and Its Applications (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1983), first paragraph

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I. J. Good2

British statistician, cryptographer 1916–2009

Jon Elster (1940) Norwegian academic

Reason and Rationality (2009)

“The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

As quoted in obituary '"Reinhold Niebuhr Is Dead; Protestant Theologian, 78" by Alden Whitman in The New York Times (2 June 1971) http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/niebuhr.pdf

“The darkening of the world makes the irrationality of art rational: radically darkened art.”

Theodor W. Adorno book Aesthetic Theory

Source: Aesthetic Theory

“A rational man never distorts or corrupts his own standards and judgment in order to appeal to the irrationality, stupidity, or dishonesty of others.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

“Human knowledge increases, while human irrationality stays the same. Scientific inquiry may be an embodiment of reason, but what such inquiry demonstrates is that humans are not rational animals. The fact that humanists refuse to accept the demonstration only confirms its truth.”

John Gray (1948) British philosopher

An Old Chaos: Humanism and Flying Saucers (p. 81)
The Silence of Animals: On Progress and Other Modern Myths (2013)

“The point is that humans are rarely at their best when they use rational reasoning.”

Didier Sornette (1957) French scientist

Source: Why Stock Markets Crash - Critical Events in Complex Systems (2003), Chapter 4, Positive Feedbacks, p. 106.

“Dotty: Archie says the Church is a monument to irrationality.
George: … The National Gallery is a monument to irrationality! Every concert hall is a monument to irrationality! — and so is a nicely kept garden, or a lover's favour, or a home for stray dogs! You stupid woman, if rationality were the criterion for things being allowed to exist, the world would be one gigantic field of soya beans!”

Tom Stoppard Jumpers

Act I
Jumpers (1972)

“[Burke] emphasized that the new forms of politics, which hope to organize society around the rational pursuit of liberty, equality, fraternity, or their modernist equivalents, are actually forms of militant irrationality.”

Roger Scruton (1944–2020) English philosopher

"Why I became a conservative," http://newcriterion.com:81/archive/21/feb03/burke.htm The New Criterion (February 2003).

“The crackpot rationalism of free-market economics merely relies on an abstract model of how people "must" behave.”

Ellen Willis (1941–2006) writer, activist

Letter to The New York Times (27 February 1997)
Context: Whatever their limitations, Freud and Marx developed complex and subtle theories of human nature grounded in their observation of individual and social behavior. The crackpot rationalism of free-market economics merely relies on an abstract model of how people "must" behave.

“[About the Golden Rule ] But by whatever combination of rational and emotive we ourselves understand - and feel- it best, whether we elevate it to a religious principle or reduce it to simple good manners, whether we honor it in the breach or not at all, it is the foundation of civilised social life.”

Clara Claiborne Park (1923–2010) Author about autism experiences

page 148
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter's Life In Autism (2001)

“There may be occasions when it is best to behave irrationally, but whether there are should be decided rationally.”

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I. J. Good2

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