> I think there is some inherent tension btwn being "rational" about things and trying to reason about things from first principle..
Consider ethical pluralism – by which I mean, there is enormous disagreement among humans as to what is ethical, we can't even agree on what the first principles are. Sure, we all agree on a lot of non-controversial applications – e.g. killing children for sport is gravely evil – but even when we agree on the conclusion, we won't agree on the premises.
Is it any different for theoretical rationality? I don't think so. I think we have the same situation of rational pluralism – sure, we can agree on a lot of non-controversial applications, but we lack agreement on what the first principles are. And when you disagree on the principles, you tend to reach completely opposite conclusions in edge cases.
But at least, with ethical pluralism, a preference utilitarian or a Kantian or a natural law theorist is very open about what their ethical first principles are, and how they differ from those of others. By contrast, the "rationalists" seem to present there as being only one possible rationality, their own.
Consider ethical pluralism – by which I mean, there is enormous disagreement among humans as to what is ethical, we can't even agree on what the first principles are. Sure, we all agree on a lot of non-controversial applications – e.g. killing children for sport is gravely evil – but even when we agree on the conclusion, we won't agree on the premises.
Is it any different for theoretical rationality? I don't think so. I think we have the same situation of rational pluralism – sure, we can agree on a lot of non-controversial applications, but we lack agreement on what the first principles are. And when you disagree on the principles, you tend to reach completely opposite conclusions in edge cases.
But at least, with ethical pluralism, a preference utilitarian or a Kantian or a natural law theorist is very open about what their ethical first principles are, and how they differ from those of others. By contrast, the "rationalists" seem to present there as being only one possible rationality, their own.