The illusion of rationality

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Okay, in this video I'm going to be talking about David Hume and some of the things that I took away from his philosophy that I thought were interesting and practically helpful for people to think about.

[00:00:09]One of the main things that I really liked about David Hume is that he's a very practical guy. During the Enlightenment when he was writing, a lot of the people at the time and philosophers used to be saying things like, "Oh, I should live this life based on what's rational."

[00:00:26]And you hear in everyday life like people will be like, "Oh, this is the rational thing to do, so do it." And what Hume is like saying is, "No, people aren't rational. They don't act rationally. They say they they're rational, but they aren't. So, then what motivates them?"

[00:00:43]And he says that it's their passions.

[00:00:45]And it's another way of saying what people value in life, whether it's power, revenge, money, fame, love, forgiveness. These sorts of underlying values are they're they're carried out through reason. So, it's not like reason has no utility.

[00:01:02]He's saying that let's clarify what we mean by reason and what what utility rationality has in daily life.