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Rationality as the Capacity for Understanding[Note 1. Thanks to audiences at Iowa State University, Leipzig, HU ...]
Author(s) -
Schafer Karl
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
noûs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.574
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1468-0068
pISSN - 0029-4624
DOI - 10.1111/nous.12231
Subject(s) - rationality , correctness , epistemology , great rationality debate , virtue , function (biology) , focus (optics) , ecological rationality , principle of rationality , sociology , computer science , philosophy , algorithm , physics , optics , evolutionary biology , biology
In this essay, I develop and defend a virtue‐theoretic conception of rationality as a capacity whose function is understanding, as opposed to mere truth or correctness. I focus on two main potential advantages of this view. First, its ability to explain the rationality of forms of explanatory reasoning, and second, its ability to offer a more unified account of theoretical and practical rationality.