Enigma of Reason

book by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber

Review by Cosma Shalizi:

It is impossible for me to do justice to this extraordinarily rich book. To put it very, very crudely: Mercier and Sperber's position is that human reason did not evolve to assist us in accurately understanding the world and our place in it. Rather, reason evolved to persuade others, to justify our positions and actions to others, and to evaluate others' attempts at persuasion and justification.

Earlier versions of Mercier and Sperber's arguments deeply influenced my work with Henry Farrell on cognitive democracy, and it's one of the sources we're drawing on (slowly) for Actually, "Dr. Internet" Is the Name of the Monsters' Creator. This is the first full-length presentation of their views, in a form which has been modified to account for (what else?) criticism.