This is philosophy bites with me, Nigel.
Warburton, and me, David Edmonds.
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Most people are more scared in a plane than a car.
That seems irrational, since cars are more dangerous than planes.
This is just one illustration of how irrationality permeates our lives.
Philosophers extol the value of rationality.
So how does Lisa Bortolotti of Birmingham University apply her rational faculties to the puzzles of irrationality?
Lisa Bortolotti, welcome to philosophy Bites.
Hi.
Thank you.
The topic we're going to focus on is irrationality.
Now, that's a really important topic for philosophers because they tend to be obsessed with giving reasons, rational behavior, rational explanations.
So could we just start by getting clear what irrationality is and how does it enter our lives?
Yeah, certainly there are different forms of irrationality, but I think what is in common among all of them is that there is something going wrong.
There is something that we do not accept.
So irrationality is like a value concept almost.
It's almost like sciences, a term that we use honorifically.