It isn’t admitting that irrationality is good in itself. It is admitting that it’s natural, and expected in people, that it isn’t shameful.
Once it’s ok for someone to be avowedly irrational, it is possible to work on the issue. If it is perceived as wrong, then people are more likely to start doing weird stuff to cover up what they perceive as a shameful flaw, and in our case, that may mean people starting to devote more time and resources towards rational acting, than towards learning the art and applying it for real.
Fair enough; I’d accept this as an argument for shaming irrationality less. I’d be interested in more evidence about how strong the effect is, though.
ETA: the more we shame theft, the more people in moral grey areas will be motivated to believe that what they’re doing isn’t theft, but we don’t accept that as a sufficient argument for saying “it’s okay to steal at least a little”. Maybe irrationality is different but maybe not.
One thing that makes irrationality at least a bit different: it’s not quite subject to direct personal choice in the same way as theft, or even direct knowledge, but it can be ameliorated over time if you’re motivated to pursue suspicions.
It isn’t admitting that irrationality is good in itself. It is admitting that it’s natural, and expected in people, that it isn’t shameful.
Once it’s ok for someone to be avowedly irrational, it is possible to work on the issue. If it is perceived as wrong, then people are more likely to start doing weird stuff to cover up what they perceive as a shameful flaw, and in our case, that may mean people starting to devote more time and resources towards rational acting, than towards learning the art and applying it for real.
Fair enough; I’d accept this as an argument for shaming irrationality less. I’d be interested in more evidence about how strong the effect is, though.
ETA: the more we shame theft, the more people in moral grey areas will be motivated to believe that what they’re doing isn’t theft, but we don’t accept that as a sufficient argument for saying “it’s okay to steal at least a little”. Maybe irrationality is different but maybe not.
One thing that makes irrationality at least a bit different: it’s not quite subject to direct personal choice in the same way as theft, or even direct knowledge, but it can be ameliorated over time if you’re motivated to pursue suspicions.