<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 10:03 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4"> >></font> </span><font size="4"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">There is nothing mystical about a </span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">"</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">decision</span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">", it was either made for a reason in which case we call it a rational </span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">d</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">ecision</span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">,</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> </span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">or it </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">was made for no reason </span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">in </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">which case we call </span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">it a</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> irrational decision</span><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">.  John</span></font></blockquote></div></blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"> </blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif" style=""><i><font size="4">> </font>Please define 'reason'.  </i></font></span></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4">Please define<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> "</span>define<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">".</span></font></div><div><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></span> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif" style="">> You certainly cannot mean without a cause,</font></span></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4">You are correct I don't mean that<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">.</span><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> Doing something without a reason, without a cause, would be unreasonable.</span> It would be random.<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </span></font></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif" style="">> It also depends on what you call a 'decision'.<font size="4"> </font></font></span></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><font size="4">You're asking the wrong person, I generally don't use the word "decision" in philosophical conversations, it's just not very useful in that context. I will say there was either a reason you made the decision you did, or there was not a reason for you making the decision you did. You may have made the wrong decision because you had incorrect information, but it was still made for a reason so you could say it was still rational, but if you made the decision for no reason at all then it was irrational.</font><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="comic sans ms, sans-serif" style="">> <i>Is a reflex drawing away from a fire a decision?  Are autonomic functions decisions?  I reckon not. You? </i><font size="4"> </font></font></span></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4">I don't much care because <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">this is</span> just a<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">n argument over the meanings of words, it has no philosophical substance.</span> </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4">J<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">ohn K Clark</span></font></div></div></div>