descriptive-vs-normative-rationality
The distinction between people who care about reason (descriptive) and those who provide genuinely cogent reasons (normative), crucial for validating objective knowledge.
1 chapter across 1 book
Epistemology: An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge (2003)Nicholas Rescher
Chapter 10 of Rescher's Epistemology argues that despite our ideas and language being human artifacts, they can still objectively apply to the real world due to the social and communicative practices of rational agents. The chapter develops a pragmatic rationale for cognitive objectivity, showing that communities of rational agents evolve toward normatively cogent reasons through a process of rational selection, thereby enabling a transition from subjective beliefs to objective knowledge. It also addresses the problem of validating objectivity, emphasizing that while rational inquiry does not guarantee truth, it helps avoid errors and supports effective knowledge acquisition.