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From: wex@ittvax.UUCP (Alan Wexelblat)
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: a full glass of rationality, please
Message-ID: <937@ittvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Aug-83 10:24:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: ittvax.937
Posted: Wed Aug 17 10:24:32 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Aug-83 20:07:39 EDT
References: houti.387
Lines: 20

Hmm.  Tom makes an interesting point:  the ability to be rational is not the 
same as the use of that ability.  

But that still leaves me with an unanswered question:  if all people have
the same ability-to-be-rational (by virtue of being humans), how can 
differences of opinion on rationality occur?

For example:  i think that it is very irrational to produce waste products
which no one doubts will be deadly for more than 200,000 years.  I think it
is even more irrational to produce these wastes when we have no acceptably
safe means of disposing of them.  I think it is even more irrational to 
think of trying to store something for a period of time that is approximately
100 times as long as modern civilization has existed!  I find that a large
number of people agree with me.  Yet many do not!  They see nothing 
irrational in any of the above, and they may even accuse me of having 
irrational fears.  How does this occur, and how can it be resolved (in 
general, not just this specific case)?

--Alan Wexelblat
decvax!ittvax!wex