{"id":2534,"date":"2017-03-07T14:10:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T14:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/?page_id=2534"},"modified":"2018-02-09T11:39:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T11:39:28","slug":"the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"The Enigma of Reason &#8211; Hugo Mercier &#038; Dan Sperber (2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2536 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"339\" \/>From the publisher:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn\u2019t it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings of reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber set out to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue with a compelling mix of real-life and experimental evidence, is not geared to solitary use, to arriving at better beliefs and decisions on our own. What reason does, rather, is help us justify our beliefs and actions to others, convince them through argumentation, and evaluate the justifications and arguments that others address to us.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, reason helps humans better exploit their uniquely rich social environment. This interactionist interpretation explains why reason may have evolved and how it fits with other cognitive mechanisms. It makes sense of strengths and weaknesses that have long puzzled philosophers and psychologists\u2015why reason is biased in favor of what we already believe, why it may lead to terrible ideas and yet is indispensable to spreading good ones.<\/p>\n<p>Ambitious, provocative, and entertaining, The Enigma of Reason will spark debate among psychologists and philosophers, and make many reasonable people rethink their own thinking.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Enigma-Reason-Hugo-Mercier\/dp\/0674368304\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=behaviorals01-20&amp;linkId=899049cfa79ed88c816d85b3a5acb51a\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Buy on Amazon<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=behaviorale0b-21&amp;l=as2&amp;o=2&amp;a=1107140706\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the publisher: Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn\u2019t it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":12,"menu_order":82,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2534","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Enigma of Reason - Hugo Mercier &amp; Dan Sperber (2017) - BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Enigma of Reason - Hugo Mercier &amp; Dan Sperber (2017) - BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the publisher: Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn\u2019t it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/behavecondotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-09T11:39:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@behavecondotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/\",\"name\":\"The Enigma of Reason - Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2017) - BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-07T14:10:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-09T11:39:28+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":339},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Popular Books\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"The Enigma of Reason &#8211; Hugo Mercier &#038; Dan Sperber (2017)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub\",\"description\":\"Home of the Behavioral Economics Guide and the Behavioral Economics Academy. A behavioral science hub hosting information, discussions and resources.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BE-Icon-250x250.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BE-Icon-250x250.png\",\"width\":250,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/behavecondotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/behavecondotcom\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/112700\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Enigma of Reason - Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2017) - BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Enigma of Reason - Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2017) - BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub","og_description":"From the publisher: Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn\u2019t it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/","og_site_name":"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/behavecondotcom\/","article_modified_time":"2018-02-09T11:39:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@behavecondotcom","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute","Written by":"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/","url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/","name":"The Enigma of Reason - Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2017) - BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-07T14:10:04+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-09T11:39:28+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/EnigmaOfReason-e1488895583300.jpg","width":225,"height":339},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier-dan-sperber-2017\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Popular Books","item":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/resources\/books\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The Enigma of Reason &#8211; Hugo Mercier &#038; Dan Sperber (2017)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/","name":"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk | The BE Hub","description":"Home of the Behavioral Economics Guide and the Behavioral Economics Academy. A behavioral science hub hosting information, discussions and resources.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#organization","name":"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk","url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BE-Icon-250x250.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/BE-Icon-250x250.png","width":250,"height":250,"caption":"BehavioralEconomic.co.uk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/behavecondotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/behavecondotcom","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/112700\/"]}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/Pc89nr-ES","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2534\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.behaviouraleconomic.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}