Hugin & Munin Journal

Steven Pinker’s Rationality is not, despite the title, simply a handbook on how to think logically. It does explain the tools humans have developed for reasoning more reliably—logic, probability, statistics, Bayesian updating, and causal inference. But its recurring subject is the gap between possessing those tools and actually using them. Cover image: Rationality by Steven Pinker, published by Penguin Books. Used here for purposes of review and commentary. In that sense, the book is part primer and part catalogue of failure. Its most interesting question is not merely what rationality means in the abstract, but why a species capable of inventing extraordinarily powerful methods of reasoning so often falls back on intuition, anecdote, tribal loyalty, and whatever explanation feels right first. Familiar Ground, Clearly Mapped Rationality overlaps heavily with material familiar to anyone who has spent time reading about statistics, cognitive psychology, or the s...