What Are We Arguing About When We Argue About Rationality?

#rationality #science

I love this

If you’re seeking truth, you’re absolutely allowed to do what Srinivasan Ramanujan did when he discovered how to simplify a certain kinds of previously unsolvable math problem:

It is simple. The minute I heard the problem, I knew that the answer was a continued fraction. ‘Which continued fraction?’ I asked myself. Then the answer came to my mind

If we define rationality as “the study of truth-seeking”, this is good at the “truth-seeking” part, but bad at the “study” part. He got the right answer. The truth was successfully sought, the diamond was found. But he can’t explain to anyone else how he did it - he just has a good knack for this kind of thing.

https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/what-are-we-arguing-about-when-we