The Enigma of Reason

by Hugo Mercier, Dan Sperber

Overview

“Brilliant…Timely and necessary.” —Financial Times

“Especially timely as we struggle to make sense of how it is that individuals and communities persist in holding beliefs that have been thoroughly discredited.”
—Darren Frey, Science

If reason is what makes us human, why do we behave so irrationally? And if it is so useful, why didn’t it evolve in other animals? This groundbreaking account of the evolution of reason by two renowned cognitive scientists seeks to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue, helps us justify our beliefs, convince others, and evaluate arguments. It makes it easier to cooperate and communicate and to live together in groups. Provocative, entertaining, and undeniably relevant, The Enigma of Reason will make many reasonable people rethink their beliefs.

“Reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant…Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way?…Cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber [argue that] reason developed not to enable us to solve abstract, logical problems…[but] to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups.”
—Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker

“Turns reason’s weaknesses into strengths, arguing that its supposed flaws are actually design features that work remarkably well.”
—Financial Times

“The best thing I have read about human reasoning. It is extremely well written, interesting, and very enjoyable to read.”
—Gilbert Harman, Princeton University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674237827
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/04/2019
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	680,096
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Hugo Mercier is a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, working in the Cognitive Science Institute Marc Jeannerod in Lyon.

Dan Sperber is a researcher in the Departments of Cognitive Science and of Philosophy at the Central European University, Budapest, and in the Institut Jean Nicod at the École Normale Supérieure, Paris.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Double Enigma 1

I Shaking Dogma 13

1 Reason on Trail 15

2 Psychologists' Travails 34

II Understanding Inference 49

3 From Unconscious Inferences to Intuitions 51

4 Modularity 68

5 Cognitive Opportunism 76

6 Metarepresentations 90

III Rethinking Reason 107

7 How We Use Reasons 109

8 Could Reason Be a Module? 128

9 Reasoning: Intuition and Reflection 148

10 Reason: What Is It For? 175

IV What Reason Can and Cannot Do 203

11 Why Is Reasoning Biased? 205

12 Quality Control: How We Evaluate Arguments 222

13 The Dark Side of Reason 237

14 A Reason for Everything 251

15 The Bright Side of Reason 262

V Reason in the Wild 275

16 Is Human Reason Universal? 277

17 Reasoning about Moral and Political Topics 299

18 Solitary Geniuses? 315

Conclusion: In Praise of Reason after All 328

Notes 337

References 357

Acknowledgments 383

Illustration Credits 385

Index 387

Editorial Reviews

As evolutionary psychologists, Mercier and Sperber ask what might have been adaptive for our ancestors and thus built into our brains. Some have argued for modules specialized for reasoning about particular topics. But Mercier and Sperber argue for a single module that can frame an argument and its conclusion: the former aids cooperation and the latter communication. So, the ultimate goal of reasoning is persuasion. It’s an extraordinarily ambitious theory presented with brilliant insights, profound scholarship, and entertaining anecdotes.

Philip Johnson-Laird

Brilliant…Turns reason’s weaknesses into strengths, arguing that its supposed flaws are actually design features that work remarkably well…Timely and necessary.

Financial Times - Julian Baggini

This is a terrific book. The best thing I have read about human reasoning. It is extremely well written, interesting, and very enjoyable to read.

Gilbert Harman

Original, persuasive, and deftly argued, The Enigma of Reason puts forward a new and rather surprising thesis that the proper (evolutionary) functioning of reasoning is to persuade others via argumentation. This book will challenge your preconceptions about the mind’s internal logic and why it exists. A compelling read and a novel contribution to the literature on reasoning.

Clark Barrett

The Enigma of Reason is a comprehensive and well‐motivated overview of the contemporary scientific and philosophical literature on reasoning. This is especially timely as we struggle to make sense of how it is that individuals and communities persist in holding beliefs that have been thoroughly discredited.

Science - Darren Frey

Mercier and Sperber believe that reason’s main utility is in our interactions with others, not sitting alone in our rooms and philosophizing. Reason is what enables us to explain our thoughts and actions to others.

Psychology Today - Jonathan Foiles

Reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant than it does right now. Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way? In The Enigma of Reason, the cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber take a stab at answering this question… [Their] argument runs, more or less, as follows: Humans’ biggest advantage over other species is our ability to cooperate. Cooperation is difficult to establish and almost as difficult to sustain. For any individual, freeloading is always the best course of action. Reason developed not to enable us to solve abstract, logical problems…[but] to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups.

New Yorker - Elizabeth Kolbert

"Narrator Liam Gerrard's beautifully raspy voice goes well with his English accent. . . . His pacing and projection keep the text moving at a consistent pace and help unpack passages that involve complex logic." ---AudioFile

From the Publisher

The authors provide an explanation for where reason came from, a history of reason within human endeavours, and some ways for listeners to understand how they may be abusing reason and blinding themselves from the rational views of others. Narrator Liam Gerrard’s beautifully raspy voice goes well with his English accent. His lively and emphatic delivery is just the thing this audiobook needs to avoid being daunting to the average listener. His pacing and projection keep the text moving at a consistent pace and help unpack passages that involve complex logic. L.E. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2018 - AudioFile