I guess this is a pretty subtle point to make, so I’ll try to state it more clearly again. Let’s assume tool-boxism is true in some deep ontological sense, such that, for any given problem in which we want to discover the truth, there are multiple sets of reasoning principles which each output a different answer. No one agrees on which principles are correct for each problem, everyone is guided by some combination of intuition, innate preferences, habit, tradition, culture, or whim. This is indeed the current situation in which we find ourselves, but if tool boxism is indeed true, then that suggests this is the best we can do, i.e., objectivity is false. Rationalists at least seem to posit that objectivity is true.
It also means that all reasoning is necessarily motivated reasoning, if it has to be guided by subjective preferences. But even if objectivity is true, motivated reasoning is still a valid intellectual process, and probably the only possible process until that objective set of reasoning principles is discovered fully. Note that Cox’s theorem is based on motivated reasoning, in the sense that a set of desiderata is established first, before trying to determine a set of principles that satisfy those desiderata.
This is a nearly universal form of reasoning, especially in science, where one tries to establish a set of laws that agree with things that are found empirically. I don’t know if it’s possible to disentangle preferences entirely from beliefs.
I guess this is a pretty subtle point to make, so I’ll try to state it more clearly again. Let’s assume tool-boxism is true in some deep ontological sense, such that, for any given problem in which we want to discover the truth, there are multiple sets of reasoning principles which each output a different answer. No one agrees on which principles are correct for each problem, everyone is guided by some combination of intuition, innate preferences, habit, tradition, culture, or whim. This is indeed the current situation in which we find ourselves, but if tool boxism is indeed true, then that suggests this is the best we can do, i.e., objectivity is false. Rationalists at least seem to posit that objectivity is true.
It also means that all reasoning is necessarily motivated reasoning, if it has to be guided by subjective preferences. But even if objectivity is true, motivated reasoning is still a valid intellectual process, and probably the only possible process until that objective set of reasoning principles is discovered fully. Note that Cox’s theorem is based on motivated reasoning, in the sense that a set of desiderata is established first, before trying to determine a set of principles that satisfy those desiderata.
This is a nearly universal form of reasoning, especially in science, where one tries to establish a set of laws that agree with things that are found empirically. I don’t know if it’s possible to disentangle preferences entirely from beliefs.