Irrationality is
cognition
Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
, thinking, talking, or acting without
rationality.
Irrationality often has a negative connotation, as thinking and actions that are less useful or more illogical than other more rational alternatives. The concept of irrationality is especially important in
Albert Ellis's
rational emotive behavior therapy, where it is characterized specifically as the tendency and leaning that humans have to act, emote and think in ways that are inflexible, unrealistic, absolutist and most importantly
self-defeating and socially defeating and destructive.
However, irrationality is not always viewed as a negative. Much subject matter in literature can be seen as an expression of human longing for the irrational. The
Romantics valued irrationality over what they perceived as the sterile, calculating and emotionless philosophy which they thought to have been brought about by the
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...
and the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
.
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
Surrealist art movements embraced irrationality as a means to "reject reason and logic".
André Breton, for example, argued for a rejection of pure logic and reason which are seen as responsible for many contemporary social problems.
See also
*
Absurdism
Absurdism is the philosophical theory that the universe is irrationality, irrational and meaningless. It states that trying to find meaning leads people into conflict with a seemingly meaningless world. This conflict can be between Rationality ...
*
Absurdity
*
Irrationalism
Notes
References
*
Stuart Sutherland ''Irrationality: Why We Don't Think Straight'', 1992, reissued 2007 by Pinter & Martin
*
* Lisa Bortolotti, ''Irrationality'', Cambridge, Polity Press, 2014
External links
* Craig R. M. McKenzie
Rational models as theories – not standards – of behavior.''Trends in Cognitive Sciences'' Vol.7 No.9 September 2003
REBT-CBT NET – Internet Guide to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
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Reasoning
Human behavior
Error
Symptoms and signs of mental disorders