Paper's abstract

Vasco Correia, Irrationality (is) natural: How to reduce it? Cognitive illusions and epistemic strategies of control
This article examines the effects of cognitive illusions upon our judgments and inferences, both in the epistemic and in the practical sphere. Drawing on empirical research on motivational and cognitive biases, I show in which ways such irrational phenomena tend to undermine the rationality of our beliefs and decisions. Although judgmental and inferential biases tend to arise unintentionally, I argue that people remain partly responsible for the irrational attitudes stemming from them, insofar as they have the possibility to counteract such biases by adopting epistemic strategies of control designed to ensure indirectly the rationality of cognitive processes. I briefly describe some of these strategies.

Key Words : irrationality, illusions, bias
tome 55, 2012 : p. 65-77

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