The American attachment to firearms,which seems only to become stronger the more devastation they wreak on their society,is as good a proof as any that man is not,& will never be,a rational animal.He is guided by symbols,no less than his primitive ancestors on the African plain.
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Replying to @RightModernist
"Rational animal" does not mean that every action is guided by reason
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Replying to @AnarchicEvolist
Not every, no. But broadly speaking, a rational man is guided by reason the way a migrating bird is guided by its innate navigational sense.
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Replying to @RightModernist
Nah it just means he has the capacity to reason, not that he'll ever use it
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Replying to @AnarchicEvolist
If he doesn’t use it then he’s not rational, by definition.
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Replying to @RightModernist
Hmm, if a man with two legs never walks, does it mean he doesn't have two legs?
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Replying to @AnarchicEvolist
But the phrase ‘a rational man’ does not mean someone merely has the capacity to reason, it means he acts rationally. The same with ‘a cruel man’ or ‘a charming man’. These tell us about actual behaviour, not potential behaviour.
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Perhaps, I was using it in the Aristotelian sense, where it is defined by potential behaviour
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