That may be what your view of being rational is, it is not mine, nor that of any truly rational individual.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 6:39 pm Well, for something to be "rational," all that has to happen is a proper connection between means and ends. What those ends are, or should be, rationality never tells you.
Being rational means guiding every aspect of one's life by means of reason, not just when it's convenient to justify some immediate whim. It means everything one chooses to think, believe, and do must be based on their best possible reason from all available evidence without any evasion of fact and not allowing any feeling, desire, or sentiment to interfere or obscure that reasoning. That of course includes determining what one's ends, purposes, and goals are.
For the rational individual, the ultimate end or goal is one's own life and one's enjoyment of it, which is only possible by being fully the kind of being one is: a volitional being who must consciously choose all one does, an intellectual being for whom knowledge is an essential of life (like food, water, and air), and a rational being who must us knowledge to reason and make all one's choices. Since nothing is given and everything must be earned, the rational individual's practical goal is to learn all he possibly can, to use the best reason he possibly can, and work to achieve all he possibly can to be the best possible human being he can possibly be. It is a very difficult, demanding, often painful and frustrating life, but no other is so rewarding or can provide the kind of joy and fulfillment the rational individual lives for.
That certainly fits your other superstitions, I suppose.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 6:39 pm It's not "irrational" to want to be the Tyrant of Russia.
It is irrational to want to be the tyrant of anything, a short-sighted ignorant childish fairy tale desire. I have no idea of how to reason with someone who believes whim and reason are equivalent.
If that is all your reason is capable of, why bother? If your reason is incapable of figuring out what human nature is and what is required for that kind of being to live successfully as a human being and therefore what is good for him and what is not, what he should want and what he should not, then it is not worth bothering with.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 6:39 pm Reason only supplies the connection between what you want and how to get there.