{"id":8274,"date":"2012-01-05T16:55:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T15:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/?p=8274"},"modified":"2023-01-06T10:25:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T09:25:35","slug":"is-reasoning-just-about-winning-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/is-reasoning-just-about-winning-arguments\/","title":{"rendered":"Is reasoning just about winning arguments?"},"content":{"rendered":"

From an old Edge discussion:<\/p>\n

Last July, opening the Edge<\/em> Seminar, “The New Science of Morality”<\/a>, Jonathan Haidt<\/a> digressed to talk about two recently-published papers in Behavioral and Brain Sciences <\/em>which he believed were “so important that the abstracts from them should be posted in psychology departments all over the country.”<\/p>\n

One of the papers “Why Do Humans Reason? Arguments for an Argumentative Theory,”<\/a> published by Behavioral and Brain Sciences<\/em>, was by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber.<\/p>\n

“The article,\u201d Haidt said, “is a review of a puzzle that has bedeviled researchers in cognitive psychology and social cognition for a long time. The puzzle is, why are humans so amazingly bad at reasoning in some contexts, and so amazingly good in others?”<\/p>\n

“Reasoning was not designed to pursue the truth. Reasoning was designed by evolution to help us win arguments. That’s why they call it The Argumentative Theory of Reasoning. So, as they put it, “The evidence reviewed here shows not only that reasoning falls quite short of reliably delivering rational beliefs and rational decisions. It may even be, in a variety of cases, detrimental to rationality. Reasoning can lead to poor outcomes, not because humans are bad at it, but because they systematically strive for arguments that justify their beliefs or their actions. This explains the confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and reason-based choice, among other things.”<\/p>\n

“Now, the authors point out that we can and do re-use our reasoning abilities. We’re sitting here at a conference. We’re reasoning together. We can re-use our argumentative reasoning for other purposes. But even there, it shows the marks of its heritage. Even there, our thought processes tend towards confirmation of our own ideas. Science works very well as a social process, when we can come together and find flaws in each other’s reasoning. We can’t find the problems in our own reasoning very well. But, that’s what other people are for, is to criticize us. And together, we hope the truth comes out.”<\/p>\n

…The paper has created a storm of interest and controversy and has has attracted attention well beyond academic circles. Sharon Begley (Newsweek<\/em>) and Jonah Lehrer<\/a> (Wired<\/em>) were among the many journalists who wrote stories.  In addition, many leading thinkers have taken note.<\/p>\n

Gerd Gigerenzer<\/a> finds this view on reasoning is most provocative as “reasoning is not about truth but about convincing others when trust alone is not enough. Doing so may seem irrational, but it is in fact social intelligence at its best.” Steven Pinker<\/a> notes that “The Argumentative Theory is original and provocative, has a large degree of support, and is strikingly relevant to contemporary affairs, including political discourse, higher education, and the nature of reason and rationality. It is likely to have a big impact on our understanding of ourselves and current affairs.”<\/p>\n

And Jonathan Haidt says the \u201cthe article is one of my favorite papers of the last ten years. I believe that they have solved one of the most important and longstanding puzzles in psychology: why are we so good at reasoning in some cases, but so hopelessly biased in others? Once I read their paper, I saw the argumentative function” of reasoning everywhere \u2014 particularly in the reasoning of people I disagreed with, but also occasionally even in myself. They’re on to a very powerful idea with many social and educational ramifications.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read an interview with one of the paper’s authors – Hugo Mercier – here: http:\/\/www.edge.org\/documents\/archive\/edge.org\/conversation\/the-argumentative-theory<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From an old Edge discussion: Last July, opening the Edge Seminar, “The New Science of Morality”, Jonathan Haidt digressed to talk about two recently-published papers in Behavioral and Brain Sciences which he believed were “so important that the abstracts from them should be posted in psychology departments all over the country.” One of the papers … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,15,42,19],"tags":[300,296],"class_list":["post-8274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-politics","category-psychology","category-sociology-social-sciences","tag-processed","tag-published"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prY0k-29s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16036,"url":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/three-great-books-on-moral-philosophy-and-ethics\/","url_meta":{"origin":8274,"position":0},"title":"Three great books on Moral Philosophy and Ethics","author":"Limbic","date":"September 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"These three books go brilliantly together. Here is the order I read them in. The images link to Amazon.com kindle editions. The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene The Quest for a Moral Compass by Kenan Malik","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Contemporary Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/category\/humanities\/contemporary-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The_Righteous_Mind__Why_Good_People_Are_Divided_by_Politics_and_Religion_-_Kindle_edition_by_Jonathan_Haidt__Politics___Social_Sciences_Kindle_eBooks___Amazon_com_","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/The_Righteous_Mind__Why_Good_People_Are_Divided_by_Politics_and_Religion_-_Kindle_edition_by_Jonathan_Haidt__Politics___Social_Sciences_Kindle_eBooks___Amazon_com_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16722,"url":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/the-price-of-of-repression-is-violence\/","url_meta":{"origin":8274,"position":1},"title":"The price of of repression is violence","author":"Limbic","date":"June 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cRepression may reduce overall dissent, but cause dissent that occurs to become more violent,\u201d demonstrated with descriptive data from across Africa (Wallsworth). via The take-aways from four dozen papers on conflict and fragility in Africa in under 2,000 words","rel":"","context":"In "Geography & Weather"","block_context":{"text":"Geography & Weather","link":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/category\/science\/geography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20964,"url":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/power-really-does-corrupt\/","url_meta":{"origin":8274,"position":2},"title":"Power really does corrupt","author":"Limbic","date":"September 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I learned last week that becoming powerful has measurable neurological effects on your ability to empathize. Listen to this fascinating episode of NPR\u2019s Hidden Brain on \u201cThe Perils of Power\u201d. If you have a Harvard Business Review subscription there is a long article in the October 2016 edition called \u201cDon\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropology","link":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/category\/science\/anthropology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17539,"url":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/trend-is-not-destiny\/","url_meta":{"origin":8274,"position":3},"title":"Trend is Not Destiny","author":"Limbic","date":"March 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Stop and just go read the superb Farnam Street Blog on \"The Central Mistake of Historicism: Karl Popper on Why Trend is Not Destiny\".","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropology","link":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/category\/science\/anthropology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-trend-is-not-destiny-1-300x292","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-trend-is-not-destiny-1-300x292.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6524,"url":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/conformity-enforcers-are-the-resistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":8274,"position":4},"title":"Conformity Enforcers are The Resistance","author":"Limbic","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"[Another forgotten post from the draft folder from Sep 2010] This was an insight that Howard Bloom's Conformity Enforcers and Stephen Pressfield's concept of The Resistance are linked, or at least serve the same ends.","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropology","link":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/category\/science\/anthropology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16842,"url":"https:\/\/www.limbicnutrition.com\/blog\/best-books-on-free-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":8274,"position":5},"title":"Best books on Free Speech","author":"Limbic","date":"October 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are my picks for the 4 best books on Free Speech (old and new) for anyone new to the topic. 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