Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
E194849
"Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters" is a non-fiction book by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker that explores the nature of human reasoning, why people often think irrationally, and how better reasoning can improve individual and societal decision-making.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1726334 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters Context triple: [Steven Pinker, notableWork, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters]
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A.
A Defence of Common Sense
A Defence of Common Sense is a seminal philosophical essay by G. E. Moore that argues for the certainty of everyday common-sense beliefs against skeptical and idealist challenges.
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B.
Models of Bounded Rationality
Models of Bounded Rationality is a collection of Herbert A. Simon’s influential works that develop the concept of bounded rationality, explaining how real-world decision-making is constrained by limited information, cognitive capacity, and time.
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C.
Talking Reason to Power
Talking Reason to Power is the guiding motto of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, reflecting its mission to use rational, informed dialogue to influence global policy on peace and security.
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D.
How We Think
How We Think is a foundational philosophical and educational work by John Dewey that analyzes the nature of reflective thought and its role in effective learning and problem-solving.
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E.
the limits of reason
The limits of reason refers to the idea that rational thought and logical analysis have boundaries beyond which they cannot fully explain, justify, or resolve human experiences, beliefs, or conflicts.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters Target entity description: "Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters" is a non-fiction book by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker that explores the nature of human reasoning, why people often think irrationally, and how better reasoning can improve individual and societal decision-making.
-
A.
A Defence of Common Sense
A Defence of Common Sense is a seminal philosophical essay by G. E. Moore that argues for the certainty of everyday common-sense beliefs against skeptical and idealist challenges.
-
B.
Models of Bounded Rationality
Models of Bounded Rationality is a collection of Herbert A. Simon’s influential works that develop the concept of bounded rationality, explaining how real-world decision-making is constrained by limited information, cognitive capacity, and time.
-
C.
Talking Reason to Power
Talking Reason to Power is the guiding motto of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, reflecting its mission to use rational, informed dialogue to influence global policy on peace and security.
-
D.
How We Think
How We Think is a foundational philosophical and educational work by John Dewey that analyzes the nature of reflective thought and its role in effective learning and problem-solving.
-
E.
the limits of reason
The limits of reason refers to the idea that rational thought and logical analysis have boundaries beyond which they cannot fully explain, justify, or resolve human experiences, beliefs, or conflicts.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (43)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book on rationality
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ |
| addresses |
fallacies in human judgment
ⓘ
misconceptions about rationality ⓘ the gap between normative and descriptive reasoning ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
bridge scientific research on reasoning with everyday thinking
ⓘ
explain the nature of rational thought ⓘ |
| author | Steven Pinker ⓘ |
| authorOccupation | cognitive psychologist ⓘ |
| describes |
how better reasoning can improve individual decision-making
ⓘ
how better reasoning can improve societal decision-making ⓘ how humans reason ⓘ why people often think irrationally ⓘ |
| explores |
the benefits of rational thinking for society
ⓘ
the relationship between rationality and morality ⓘ the role of rationality in public discourse ⓘ tools for improving reasoning skills ⓘ |
| genre |
cognitive science literature
ⓘ
non-fiction ⓘ popular science ⓘ |
| hasForm |
audiobook
ⓘ
ebook ⓘ print ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
general readers
ⓘ
readers interested in philosophy of reasoning ⓘ readers interested in psychology ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
Bayesian reasoning
ⓘ
linked to:
Bayesian epistemology
cognitive biases ⓘ critical thinking ⓘ decision-making ⓘ human reasoning ⓘ logic ⓘ probability theory ⓘ rationality ⓘ science of reasoning ⓘ social implications of rationality ⓘ statistical reasoning ⓘ |
| relatedField |
behavioral economics
ⓘ
cognitive psychology ⓘ decision theory ⓘ philosophy ⓘ statistics ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters Description of subject: "Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters" is a non-fiction book by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker that explores the nature of human reasoning, why people often think irrationally, and how better reasoning can improve individual and societal decision-making.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.