HL 1 Reason on Trial

1 Reason on Trial
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René Descartes,

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he formed the stunningly ambitious project of ridding himself of all opinions,
Note:CARTESII PARTE ALLA RICERCA DELL NOGGETTIVO...IL SUO TENTATIVO

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rebuilding his knowledge from scratch,
Note:DA ZERO

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a general disdain for collective achievements.
Note:IL SOGGETTO AL CENTRO

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What one may learn from books, he considered, “is not as close to the truth,
Note:CULTO DELLA SOLITUDINE

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“wisdom of crowds.”
Note:L AVREBBE DISPREZZATA

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individual reason:
Note:L UNICA SAGGEZZA CHE RICONOSCESSE

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“the power of judging correctly and of distinguishing the true from the false (which is properly what is called good sense or reason) is naturally equal in all men.”
Note:NN X QS ERA UN ELITISTA

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“The Greatest Minds Are Capable of the Greatest Vices as Well as the Greatest Virtues”
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Most of us think of ourselves as rational.
Note:PREGIUDIZIO

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We are annoyed, sometimes even angry, when we see others defending opinions we think are deeply flawed.
Note:ANCHE GLI ALTRI SONO X NOI RAZIONALI

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power to discover the truth,
Note:LA RAGIONE X NOI...DA QUI LE NS RABBIE

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we expect all sighted people to see what others see.
Note:ANALOGIA

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reason, like perception,
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we have different ways of directing our thoughts, and do not take into account the same things ….
Note:IL DISACCORDO X CARTESIO

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shouldn’t the way we direct our thoughts itself be guided by reason?
Note:MA È SOLO UN MODO DI RIPROPORRE L ENIGMA

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“Reason is by nature a harmful whore.
Note:UN DETRATTORE DELLA RAGIONE...LUTERO

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Descartes, Aristotle, Kant, or Popper, that humans err by not reasoning enough.
Note:I DIFENSORI

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Luther, Hume, Kierkegaard, or Foucault, that they err by reasoning too much.
Note:I DETRATTORI

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Eratosthenes and the Unabomber
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Do you doubt the power of reason? Just look at the sciences,
Note:LA DIFESA

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the measurement of the circumference of the earth twenty-two centuries ago, by Eratosthenes
Note:UN ESEMPIO

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Eratosthenes had heard that every year, on a single day, at noon, the sun shone directly to the bottom of wells in the distant town of Syene (now Aswan).
Note:IL SOLE VERTICALE SUL POZZO...SOLSTIZIO

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the sun was at the zenith,
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Syene, he assumed, was due south on the same meridian as Alexandria.
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Eratosthenes measured the length of the shadow cast at that very moment by an obelisk located in front of his library
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Since 7.2 degrees is one-fiftieth of 360 degrees, Eratosthenes could calculate the circumference of the earth by multiplying by fifty the distance between Alexandria and Syene. The result, 252,000 stades,
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The prosecution might well at this juncture introduce the case of Ted Kaczynski.
Note:L ACCUSA

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Kaczynski was unquestionably a brilliant reasoner.
Note:DA GIOVANE

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Harvard
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he solved a mathematical problem that had eluded his professors for years,
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live in a shack in Montana,
Note:DOPO L ABBANDONO DELL ACCADEMIA

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he saw as the destructive character of modern technology.
Note:SI SPEOFONDA IN LETTURE SOCIOLOGIE

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for him, only a violent revolution
Note:LA MEDICINA A TUTTI I MALI

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Kaczynski began in 1978 to send bombs to universities, businesses, and individuals,
Note:SI PASSA ALL AZIONE

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He wrote a long manifesto and managed to have it published in the New York Times and in the Washington Post in 1995
Note:MANIFESTO

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What had happened to the brilliant young mathematician?
Note:LA RAGIONE LO HA TRADITO...IL QUESITO CHE CI INTERESSA

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his defense to try to make him plead insanity.
Note:IL PUNTO ESTREMO

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unreason had to be the culprit.
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The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race
Note:DAL MANIFESTO

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many well-respected philosophers and social theorists have defended similar views.
Note:DI FATTO

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“Kaczynski, in short, had become a cold-blooded killer not despite of his intellect, but because of it.”
Note:È SOLO STATO CONSEGUENZE

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His manifesto is indeed more tightly reasoned than much political discourse.
Note:PICCOLO CFR

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sending bombs to a few powerless academics—his former colleagues—would kick-start a “revolution against the industrial system.”
Note:È QS LA CREDENZA ASSURDA SEMMAI

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a logical demonstration can never be stronger than its weakest part.
Note:SPESSO DIMENTICATO ########

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Expert Witnesses for the Prosecution
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Neither side would have any difficulty in recruiting psychologists to support their cause.
Note:ESPERTI SIA A SUPPORTA DELLA RAZIONALITÀ CHE DELL INFERMITÀ

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“rationality wars.”
Note:COSA SI SCATENÒ

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sophisticated reasoning on reasoning does not come near providing a consensual understanding of reasoning itself.
Note:IL TUTTO È MOTO SOSPETTO

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if you assume that reasoning should be just a matter of applying logic to a given set of premises in order to derive the conclusions that follow from these premises, then nothing else should interfere.
Note:EPPURE IL CONTENUTO DELLE PREMESSE...NN SOLO LA FORMA...INFLUISCE SUL RAGIONAMENTI

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background knowledge and expectations do interfere
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1. Borg will win the match. 2. Borg will lose the first set. 3. Borg will lose the first set but win the match. 4. Borg will win the first set but lose the match.
Note:CONJUCTION FALLACY...TANTI METTONO 3 COME PIÙ PROB DI 1

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if you ask the same question not about Björn Borg at Wimbledon but rather about an unknown player at an ordinary game, then people do not commit the fallacy.
Note:L ASPETTO INTERESSANTE

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In the village of Denton, there are twenty-two farmers. All of the farmers have at least one cow. None of the farmers have more than seventeen cows. How likely is it that at least two farmers in Denton have the exact same number of cows?
Note:IL PROB DELLO SCOMPARTO

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it is certain—not merely probable—that at least two farmers have the same number of cows.
Note:RISPOSTA

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In the village of Denton, there are twenty-two farmers. The farmers have all had a visit from the health inspector. The visits of the health inspector took place between the first and the seventeenth of February of this year. How likely is it that at least two farmers in Denton had the visit of the health inspector on the exact same day?
Note:LA VERSIONE FACILE DELLO STESSO PROBLEMA

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Isn’t this, the prosecution would argue, clear evidence that human reason is seriously defective?
Note:ARGOMENTI X LL ACCUSA

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Expert Witnesses for the Defense
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There is little doubt that some simple reasoning (in a wide sense of the term) occurs all the time, in particular when we talk to each other.
Note:LA DISCUSSIONE E/O

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Jack (to Jill): I lent my umbrella to you or to Susan—I don’t remember whom. Jill: Well, you didn’t lend it to me! 
Jack: Oh, then I lent to Susan. Jill: Right!
Note:NN C È BISOGNO DI AVER STUDIATO LOGICA

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Several psychologists (Jean Piaget, Martin Braine, and Lance Rips, in particular16) have argued that we perform logical deduction by means of a “mental logic” consisting in a collection of such logical rules
Note:PIAGET

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alternative explanation, “mental model theory” (developed by Philip Johnson-Laird and Ruth Byrne),
Note:UN MODELLO ALTERNATIVO MMT

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What we have is a procedure to represent and integrate in our mind the content of premises by means of models comparable to schematic pictures of the situation. We then read the conclusions off these models.
Note:MMT NN ESISTE ESISTA N MECCANISMO MENTALE MA UNA CAPACITÀ DI RAPPRESENTARE

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the two mental models can neither be both right nor be both wrong.
Note:IL MODELLO IN CUI PRESTA A JILL NN È COMPATIBILE CON QUELLO QUELLE N CUI PRESTA A SUSI

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pitting against one another the “mental logic” and the “mental models”
Note:NON C È SOLO PIAGET...DUE APPROCCI

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Both approaches recognize that all except the simplest reasoning tasks can trip people and cause them to come to unwarranted conclusions.
Note:MA IL PANORAMA NN È ROSEO

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The defense of reason would want these two schools to downplay their disagreements and to focus on a shared positive message:
Note:AI NS FINI

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what is known as conditional reasoning—reasoning with “if …, then …”
Note:IL MODELLO STANDARD DELLA LOGICA

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nearly everybody draws the valid modus ponens inference from the affirmation of the antecedent.
Note:LA SEMPLICE INFERENZA È FACILE

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only two-thirds of the people, on average, draw the other valid inference, modus tollens, and about half of the people commit the two fallacies.
Note:MA QUANDO SI TRATTA DI NN CONFONDERE L IMPLICASIONE UNIVOCA CON QUELLA BIUNIVOCA....

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Will She Study Late in the Library?
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First major premise: If Mary has an essay to write, then she will study late in the library. Second major premise: If the library stays open, then Mary will study late in the library. Minor premise: She has an essay to write.
Note:AGGIUNGENDO LA SECONDA PREMESSSA MAGGIORE LA GENTE SI CONFONDE....PENSA CHE LE INFO SIANO TUTTE RILEVANTI

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only 38 percent

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CHI CNSIDERA L IRRILEVANZA

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mental logicians have the wrong theory of human rationality.
Note:EVIDENTEMENTE

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What about the possibility that the library might be closed? Well, what about it? After all, for all you know, Mary might have a pass to work in the library even when it is closed. A logician would tell you,
Note:QUEL CHE NN CONSIDERIAMO

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People might, for instance, consolidate the two major premises presented by Byrne into a single one: “If Mary has an essay to write and if the library stays open, then Mary will study late in the library.”
Note:UNA SPIEGAZIONE ALTEENATIVA PWE CONSERVARE IL MODELLO TRADIZIONALE

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Is There a Defendant at This Trial?
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It is not that people are bad at making logical deductions; it is that they are bad at separating these deductions from probabilistic inferences that are suggested by the very same premises.
Note:ALTERNATIVA ULTERIORE...IL CONTESTO DEL LABORATORIO NN È REALISTIC

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psychologists are making irrational demands?
Note:IL NUOVO ACCUSATO

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Edward Adelson. Which of the two squares, A or B, is of a lighter shade of gray? Surely, B is lighter than A—this
Note:ANALGIA CON L ILLUSIONE OTTICA

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A and B are of exactly the same shade.
Note:Cccccccccc SORPRESA

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Your perception of the degree to which a surface is light or dark tracks not the amount of light that is reflected to your eyes by that surface but the proportion of the light falling on that surface that is reflected by it.
Note:COSA SUCCEDE

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The same gray surface may receive and therefore reflect more or less light to your eyes,
Note:DIFFERENZE CHE NN ESISTONO

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ignore the tridimensional scene that is being depicted.
Note:X COGLIERE L ILLUSIONE

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In general, we interpret statements on the assumption that they are intended to be relevant.
Note:TORNIAMO ALL ILLUSIONE COGNITIVA DI MARY

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when given the second major premise, “If the library stays open, then Mary will study late in the library,” people sensibly assume that they are intended to take this premise as relevant.
Note:DI CONSEG

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It takes patience and training for a painter to see a color on the canvas as it is rather than as how it will be perceived by others in the context of the whole picture.
Note:ALLENAMENTO

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Are the visual skills of painters and the inferential skills of logicians of much use in ordinary life?
Note:FACOLTÀ POCO UTILIZZATE XCHÈ POCO UTILI

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That people fail to solve rudimentary logical problems does not show that they are unable to reason
Note:CONCLUSIONE

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The relationship between logic on the one hand and reasoning on the other is far from being simple
Note:LOGICA E RAGIONE...VITA E ASTRAZUONI

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is the reasoning they talk about the same thing as the reason hailed by Descartes and despised by Luther?
Note:VIENE IL DUBBIO CHE SI PARLI DELLA STESSA COSA

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is it reason itself or some dummy mistaken for the real thing?
Note:ESISTE QUALCOSA O SI TRATTA DI UN MANICHINO?

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