Are human beings naturally rational?

[jpahmad]

I think it can be easily demonstrated that force impedes rational behavior.  If human beings were born into an environment where everybody observed the NAP, it seems to me that everyone would think like Socrates by the age 18, or whatever age marks full brain development (25 or something?)

 

If this were the case (don't know if it would be) then we could conclude that human beings are indeed rational naturally.

 

Ayn Rand would agree that what enabled mankind to survive through the ages, among other things, was his ability to use reason.  I underline "use" because it is yet to be proved that mankind naturally chooses to use reason. 

 

Some of us clearly have the faculty of reason, but choose not to use it.  I propose that in a free society, all would obviously not only have reason, but would choose to use it as well.  This would make us naturally rational.  Remember, you'er only rational if you choose to use reason, not if you just have the faculty of reason.

 

My conclusion from these musings is that a person who is not reasonable, is brain damaged(through either physical or emotional abuse), and therefore not healthy. 

 

If I look at humanity this way, then I can include the trait of rationality in my concept of a healthy human being.  It's much more convenient to do this.  Of course this would exclude millions of people from my definition of "healthy" but that is exactly my point.

[Matt H]

I think the best evidence of this is just to watch small children who haven't yet been corrupted by force. Or even remember your own childhood. Kids crave equality, explanation, fairness, truth, etc. They have to know "why" everything is the way it is, and won't accept a B.S. answer. Their parents have to use force to stop them from negotiating or continuing to ask the parents why they make the choices that they make. "Because I said so" doesn't work unless you abuse your kids. I remember being a kid, being told to accept something just because my parents told me to. I thought to myself, "why can't you just explain it to me?" It wasn't until later I realized it was because they had no rational explanation.

 

So in my opinion, the empirical evidence is overwhelming that humans are born as rational beings. 

[jpahmad]

The only problem that I have now, is that I don't know how to explain the phenomenon of someone who is unreasonable (brain damage due to emotional trauma) suddenly becoming reasonable.  This would seem to contradict my theory that irrationality is brain damage. 

 

For example, when we think of sociopaths, we think of someone who quite literally does not have certain parts of the normal human brain present, or, certain areas are significantly underdeveloped to the point where their brains look completely abnormal in a PET scan.  Sociopaths have no empathy.  This will be a fact for the rest of their lives.  Apparently, no amount of therapy can restore these brains to a "pre-abuse" state.

 

So, if being unreasonable is also brain damage, then how come it is so easy for someone to shed mysticism and superstition and become reasonable again?  Well, maybe it's not that easy.