Rationality Reconsidered

  • Robert Benjamin BaileyIII
Chapter

Abstract

The main criticism raised against those who deny human progress is that they neglect the positive and concentrate on the negative aspects of the human process. This very same criticism may be made of those who deny man’s rationality. Gumplowicz, Tarde, Le Bon, Pareto, Trotter, among others, have emphasized the great part played by the nonrational and the irrational in human behavior to the neglect of the rational. These writers are best understood if seen in the light of a reaction, an antithesis against the eighteenth and nineteenth century thesis or belief in man’s reasoning powers. These men looked about them and found that the social phenomena which they observed could hardly be explained in terms of man’s rationality. In trying to find an explanation of these phenomena, however, they were guilty of swinging the pendulum too far and giving an unwarranted emphasis to the nonrational and the irrational. They tended to take one aspect of human behavior and describe the whole human process in these terms.

Keywords

Ethical Orientation Extreme View Cyclical Theorist Social Pathology Irrational Element 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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References

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Copyright information

© Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 1958

Authors and Affiliations

  • Robert Benjamin BaileyIII

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