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The Enigma of Reason
Book

The Enigma of Reason

Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber
Harvard UP, 2017

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

How do people think? How should they think? Philosophers have been asking these questions for thousands of years and, in recent centuries, psychologists joined the discussion. Many of these thinkers argue that people should think logically and have documented flaws in human reasoning. Cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber take an original position that regards human reasoning – with all its flaws – in a new light.

Take-Aways

  • Reason is an enigma because of its flaws and because it is an evolutionary mystery.
  • Logic and reason have long linked to one another, but contemporary studies complicate our understanding of reason.
  • Rather than conscious reasoning, people often use intuition and inference.

About the Authors

Hugo Mercier, PhD, is a cognitive scientist at Paris’s Jean Nicod Institute. Dan Sperber is a social and cognitive scientist.

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    K. P. 5 years ago
    The entire social media sphere is a classic practical testing ground for ‘Enigma of Reason’. Testing many comments of a social issue tend to demonstrate ‘Group Thinking’ or ‘Wanting to be part of the majority’ to avoid social exclusion. Media of all kinds use this defect of the humans to give belief to falsified stories.