Can we truly choose to be irrational, though? Recognizing the irrationality of a belief, and valuing reason, the most we can do is act as if we hold others’ irrational beliefs. I’m sure there are many people who have done this throughout time; the tragedy is that each of these people may have “come out” as nonbelievers if they were aware of the others’ presence.
While I personally think that a person compromises his integrity when he acts contrary to his beliefs, there are certainly many instances in which this course of action has survival value, and so can be said to be rational.
Can we truly choose to be irrational, though? Recognizing the irrationality of a belief, and valuing reason, the most we can do is act as if we hold others’ irrational beliefs. I’m sure there are many people who have done this throughout time; the tragedy is that each of these people may have “come out” as nonbelievers if they were aware of the others’ presence.
While I personally think that a person compromises his integrity when he acts contrary to his beliefs, there are certainly many instances in which this course of action has survival value, and so can be said to be rational.
Using drugs, we could probably make ourselves less rational on purpose. Drinking lots of alcohol, for instance.