forum for week of 12 September

When reading the first 9 pages of a guide through a theory of knowledge I find it useful to learn the definitions of many terms I had used in context but never really understood their true meaning. I could not help to think of a mathematics textbook when I was reading it. The view that humans being are "rational" animals in a world governed by reason is an interesting thought but I feel it is oversimplified. When a person is confronted with making a decision in life they have many factors they need to evaluate in order to determine what is the "right" or "wrong" thing to do. The problem in life is that there are not many situations where we can see a clear a black and white situation, the world is filled with shades with gray. When discussing decision making we must deal with emotions as well reason. People make decisions based more on emotion than they do on reason. If people were truly rational creatures we would view life logically. The problem is, we are influenced by a great deal of thoughts and emotions that sometimes we do not even understand or even realize. As much as it is useful to look at people as logical agents in a world governed by reason it is both idealistic and oversimplified. Just something to think about.