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Social Rationality and Human Reasoning: Logical Expressivism and the Flat Mind.

Mike Oaksford¹

¹Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London.

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|October 16, 2024

Summary

People can possess "flat minds" with inconsistent beliefs and still be rational. A social account of rationality suggests that public commitments, not private beliefs, determine rationality, even allowing for unresolved contradictions.

Keywords:

Argumentation Flat mind Logical expressivism Reasoning Social rationality

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Philosophy of Mind
Epistemology

Background:

The flat mind hypothesis posits the mind comprises inconsistent experiential fragments.
Formal epistemology defines rationality through belief consistency and logical consequence adherence.
Reconciling these views presents a challenge for understanding human rationality.

Purpose of the Study:

To reconcile the "flat mind" hypothesis with traditional accounts of rationality.
To propose a social account of rationality based on logical expressivism.
To explore the implications of this social account for cognitive science and epistemology.

Main Methods:

Development of a social account of rationality inspired by logical expressivism.
Analysis of rationality within public, dialogical contexts rather than private belief systems.
Examination of the interaction between fragmented knowledge and social distribution of rationality.

Main Results:

Rationality is redefined in terms of public commitments and the acknowledgment of logical norms.
Individual belief inconsistency does not automatically equate to irrationality.
It can be rational to not resolve contradictions under certain social conditions.

Conclusions:

The mind can be "flat" (fragmented and inconsistent) yet highly rational.
A social expressivist framework offers a novel perspective on rationality.
This approach has implications for dual process theories, belief status, and cognitive systems.