Love and rationality: on some possible rational effects of love

In this paper I defend the idea that rather than disrupting rationality, as the common-sense conception has done it, love may actually help us to develop rational ways of thinking and acting. I make the case for romantic or erotic love, since this is the kind of love that is more frequently associated with irrationality in acting and thinking. I argue that this kind of love may make us develop epistemic and practical forms of rationality. Based on an analysis of its characteristic action tendencies, I argue that love may help us to develop an instrumental form of rationality in determining the best means to achieve the object of love. It may also narrow down the number of practical considerations that may help us to achieve our goals. Finally, love may generate rational ways of belief-formation by framing the parameters taken into account in perception and attention, and by bringing into light only a small portion of the epistemic information available. Love may make us perceive reality more acutely.

Inferential Rationality and Internalistic Scarecrows

Abstract In a recent paper, Manuel Pérez Otero attempted to turn the tables on Paul Boghossian's claim that content externalism is incompatible with the 'a priority of our logical abilities'. In reply, Boghossian argued that Pérez Otero's criticism misses the main point of his argument through concentrating on the semantics of singular (as opposed to general) terms. I elaborate on Boghossian's reply by showing that even taken on its own terms Pérez Otero's paper fails to engage with internalism through systematically misrepresenting what a truly internalistic account of the semantics of singular terms should be.

Valuation models and Simon's bounded rationality

This paper aims at reconciling the evidence that sophisticated valuation models are increasingly used by companies in their investment appraisal with the literature of bounded rationality, according to which objective optimization is impracticable in the real world because it would demand an immense level of sophistication of the analytical and computational processes of human beings. We show how normative valuation models should rather be viewed as forms of reality representation, frameworks according to which the real world is perceived, fragmented for a better understanding, and recomposed, providing an orderly method for undertaking a task as complex as the investment decision.

Herbert A. Simon and the concept of rationality: boundaries and procedures

This paper discusses Herbert A. Simon's conception of rationality in two of its principal general definitions: bounded rationality and procedural rationality. It argues that the latter is the one that better synthesizes the author's view about rational behavior and that the former fills mainly a critical function. They are complementarily used by Simon in this sense. In spite of that, it is argued that it is the low degree of specificity of the concept of bounded rationality one of the reasons for its relatively greater success.

Freedom of choice and bounded rationality: a brief appraisal of behavioral economists' plea for light paternalism

Behavioral economics has addressed interesting positive and normative questions underlying the standard rational choice theory. More recently, it suggests that, in a real world of boundedly rational agents, economists could help people to improve the quality of their choices without any harm to autonomy and freedom of choice. This paper aims to scrutinize available arguments for and against current proposals of light paternalistic interventions mainly in the domain of intertemporal choice. It argues that incorporating the notion of bounded rationality in economic analysis and empirical findings of cognitive biases and self-control problems cannot make an indisputable case for paternalism.

Rationality in children: the first steps

Not all categorization is conceptual. Many of the experimental findings concerning infant and animal categorization invite the hypothesis that the subjects form abstract perceptual representations, mental models or cognitive maps that are not composed of concepts. The paper is a reflection upon the idea that conceptual categorization involves the ability to make categorical judgements under the guidance of norms of rationality. These include a norm of truth-seeking and a norm of good evidence. Acceptance of these norms implies willingness to defer to cognitive authorities, unwillingness to commit oneself to contradictions, and knowledge of how to reorganize one's representational system upon discovering that one has made a mistake. It is proposed that the cognitive architecture required for basic rationality is similar to that which underlies pretend-play. The representational system must be able to make room for separate 'mental spaces' in which alternatives to the actual world are entertained. The same feature underlies the ability to understand modalities, time, the appearance-reality distinction, other minds, and ethics. Each area of understanding admits of degrees, and mastery (up to normal adult level) takes years. But rational concept-management, at least in its most rudimentary form, does not require a capacity to form second-order representations. It requires knowledge of how to operate upon, and compare, the contents of different mental spaces.

Formal semantics for propositional attitudes

Contemporary logic is confined to a few paradigmatic attitudes such as belief, knowledge, desire and intention. My purpose is to present a general model-theoretical semantics of propositional attitudes of any cognitive or volitive mode. In my view, one can recursively define the set of all psychological modes of attitudes. As Descartes anticipated, the two primitive modes are those of belief and desire. Complex modes are obtained by adding to primitive modes special cognitive and volitive ways or special propositional content or preparatory conditions. According to standard logic of attitudes (Hintikka), human agents are either perfectly rational or totally irrational. I will proceed to a finer analysis of propositional attitudes that accounts for our imperfect but minimal rationality. For that purpose I will use a non standard predicative logic according to which propositions with the same truth conditions can have different cognitive values and I will explicate subjective in addition to objective possibilities. Next I will enumerate valid laws of my general logic of propositional attitudes. At the end I will state principles according to which minimally rational agents dynamically revise attitudes of any mode.

Emergence of clonal complex 5 (CC5) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in a Brazilian hospital

In this study, genotyping techniques including staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and restriction-modification tests were used to compare the molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered at two times within a 10-year interval (1998 and 2008) from a tertiary Brazilian hospital. In addition, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were analyzed. All 48 MRSA isolates from 1998 and 85.7% from 2008 (48/56 isolates) displayed multidrug-resistance phenotypes and SCCmec III. All but one of the 13 representative SCCmec III isolates belonged to CC8 and had PFGE patterns similar to that of the BMB9393 strain (Brazilian epidemic clone of MRSA; BEC). In 2008, we found an increased susceptibility to rifampicin and chloramphenicol among the SCCmec III isolates. In addition, we detected the entrance of diverse international MRSA lineages susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT), almost all belonging to CC5. These non-SCCmec III isolates were related to the USA 300 (ST8-SCCmec IV; PFGE-type B), USA 800 (ST5-SCCmec IV; subtype D1), USA 100 (ST5-SCCmec II; subtype D2), and EMRSA-3/Cordobes (ST5-SCCmec I, type C) clones. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the emergence of isolates genetically related to the EMRSA-3/Cordobes clone in southeast Brazil. In this regard, these isolates were the most common non-SCCmec III MRSA in our institution, accounting for 8.9% of all isolates recovered in 2008. Thus, despite the supremacy of BEC isolates in our country, significant changes may occur in local MRSA epidemiology, with possible consequences for the rationality of MRSA empiric therapy.

A volta de Ulisses: anotações sobre a lógica de planos e compromissos

This paper criticizes the conventional theory of choice for being grounded on a minimal set of rationality axioms. We claim that this theory does not take due account of the fact that agents are driven by motives other than the pursuit of material self-interest. Our departure point is logic of commitments and planned action, which helps us to identify some puzzles in the conventional theory of choice. As a way out, we discuss the Kantian perspective and the notions of metapreference and metaranking. We then build a model of choice which points to the possibility of a systematic treatment of higher order preferences and incommensurable objectives.

Macroanálise, regulação e o método uma alternativa ao holismo e ao individualismo metodológicos para uma macroeconomia histórica e institucionalista

Macro-analysis, regulation and the method: an alternative to the methodological holism and individualism to a historical and institutionalist macro-economy. The paper examines the epistemological conditions that make the "regulationist" macro-analysis a possible alternative to the traditional equilibrium approaches. It shows how these analyses allow to overcome the structure-agent dilemma as from the concept of contextual rationality and of a hol-individualist methodology that, combined with the notion of strong historicity, find wide theoretical basis in Bourdieu's sociology, in Braudel's works on economical history and in Lukács's ontology on the social being. The paper also explains its historical origins and concludes with a synthesis of the method and the necessary steps to accomplish this type of macroeconomics approach.

Estratégias periféricas sessenta anos depois do acordo de Bretton Woods

After sixty years, the Bretton Woods Agreement continuous to be a reference for the debates concerning institutional organization of the international monetary system. This paper compares some features of the arrangements that have emerged in that context with the recent wave of institutional reforms in the international financial architecture. We explore some arguments suggesting that, in an instable financial environment, is possible to envisage a strong rationality in strategies for emerging economies associated with a more active capital flows and exchange rate management. Apparently, those strategies are not dissimilar to the ones today's advanced countries had used in Bretton Woods Era.

O Estado e suas razões: o II PND

The State and its reasons: the 2nd PND. This paper intends to contribute to the debate on the reasons why the Geisel administration (1974-78) chose - as it faced an adverse conjuncture - an accelerated growth agenda which was materialized in the 2nd PND (National Development Plan). In order to do so, it resorts to a methodological definition which is based upon an institutionalist approach and favors the interaction between the political and the economic variables. Contradicting the literature that interprets the strong presence of the State and the regional decentralization of the 2nd PND as signs of neopatrimonialism, it is advocated that this category of analysis is inadequate to explain the government’s choice, although this aspect is embedded in the Brazilian social-historical formation. The political rationality of the plan must be investigated in the conjuncture itself, marked by the liberalization project, which does not clash with the plan’s economic rationality - on the contrary, it is complemented by it.

Persistência inflacionária e curva de Phillips novo-keynesiana para o Brasil

Inflation persistence and new Keynesian Phillips curves for Brazil. In this paper is shown that sustainable inflation persistence has theoretical support not only due price indexation, but also because of micro-foundations based on assumptions of Simon's bounded rationality and because of persistent mark-up shocks. the new keynesian phillips curve, estimated for brazil for the period 2000/2008, and the partial coefficients of determination for moving sub-periods of 36 months identifies inflation persistence as the main determinant of inflation, with the capacity gap presenting larger importance only in the end of the sample period. Inflation persistence requires harder monetary policy when neither accommodation is acceptable nor complementary policies in order to reduce it, such as the minimization of indexation mechanisms and control of the market power, are adopted.

A teoria da perspectiva e as mudanças de preferência no mainstream: um prospecto Lakatoseano

The theory of the perspective and the changes of preference in the mainstream: a Lakatosean prospect. For many decades over the 20th Century, the mainstream of economics adopted a normative and axiomatic theory of individual behavior in which maximizing procedures were carried out by rationally unbounded agents. This status has been challenged on many grounds and alternative views from fields like psychology have found a way into the core of economics research frontier. Prospect theory, developed by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky since the 1970s, has provided a more empirical, inductive and descriptive theory of decision making. It has made significant inroads into mainstream microeconomics, shaking the habits of some of its practitioners. This paper first takes stock of its main developments and then uses a Lakatosian framework to draw out its negative and positive heuristics. In what follows, its heuristics are compared to those of traditional rational decision-making theories. The differences between them are highlighted, pointing to changes in the mainstream of the profession and to new opportunities for research.

A psicologia econômica como resposta ao individualismo metodológico

This paper aims at presenting and discussing some of behavioral models developed by Economic Psychology which is considered an irrelevant field of research for many economists yet. On highlighting the multidisciplinary convergence notably from economists' interests by psychology, it is done emphasis to the discussion of the role played by methodological individualism in the psychological reduction of the homo economicus. Such a reduction has, on the one hand, made harder the conciliation between the individual and the collective level of analysis. On the other hand, it made closer economists and psychologists in the common interest of developing methods capable of understanding the economic behavior under a perspective which allows the integration of the complexity of collective dimension in which the individual makes part.