Minimal Rationality Essay

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Topic: Minimal rationality In his essay “Minimal Rationality” Dretske explains what minimal rationality is and what is needed to posses it. In the following I will summarize the main points about minimal rationality and oppose it to biological rationality. By minimal rationality Dretske means that not only the behaviour needs to be under the causal control of thoughts but it also needs to be explained (governed) by the content of the thoughts. The explanation by the content of thoughts is what distinguishes minimal rationality from rationality. Dretske also uses the term of biological rationality that describes the behaviour designed by natural selection to achieve a consistent goal of higher fitness. In the following I will explain Dretske’s claim that minimal rationality, in some cases, is less demanding than biological rationality and in other cases more demanding than biological rationality. By saying that minimal rationality is less demanding than biological rationality Dretske refers to the fact that minimal rationality doesn’t exclude irrational behaviour because it simply requires that what is done is done for a reason and not for a good reason. In other words to be minimal rational the behaviour still needs to be explained by the thought but it doesn’t need to be rationally justified by the thought that explains it. Dretske takes the example of a terrorist who blows himself and other people up because, he believed what he was told and he believed that there are virgins waiting for him in heaven. Even though we would probably say that this is an irrational behaviour, according to the definition, it is minimal rational because the terrorist’s behaviour is explained by what he believes. To sum this up, to behave minimal rational it neither needs good reasons nor does it need to contribute the increase of fitness. It

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