Stockholm Colloquium in Philosophy: Sophia Arbeiter (Bielefeld)

Is a subject rational or irrational? Call this the rationality judgment question. Which attitudes does a subject have? Call this the attitude determination question. Most recent accounts of rationality settle the second question before the first. A subject has certain beliefs, desires, and intentions, say, and she has these attitudes rationally or irrationally. This notion of rationality is normative: an irrational subject is in some sense criticizable for her irrational attitudes. I argue that there is a notion of rationality that calls for a settling of the first question before the second. I then address two challenges for this notion of rationality: how it can be normative, and how rationality can nevertheless be unified.