TruthSeeker946 Posted February 18, 2021 Report Share Posted February 18, 2021 I’m interested in learning how Objectivists approach the topic of heuristics, since it is used by critics of reason to downplay or invalidate reason. Sebastien 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reidy Posted February 18, 2021 Report Share Posted February 18, 2021 The short answer is that I've never seen any Objectivist writings on the topic. My understanding is that, in computer science, heuristics are techniques for identifying high-likelihood paths through an infinite or impracticably large number of possibilities. This is itself a reasoning process, and you have to know the truth in order to judge how well or badly your heuristics did in getting at it. What are the arguments that using heuristics invalidates reason? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Morris Posted February 19, 2021 Report Share Posted February 19, 2021 As I understand it, heuristic reasoning is similar to brainstorming. It is not necessarily logically sound, but can suggest ideas that can then be checked out logically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted September 23, 2021 Report Share Posted September 23, 2021 Ms. Rand alludes to heuristics in the main chapter of The Virtue of Selfishness, entitled "The Objectivist Ethics." She says that once our emotions are programmed by the values of our mind, they serve as "lightning calculators" of our interests. Emotion is quicker than reason. As long as our emotions are properly programmed by our values, they can be useful for quick answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted September 24, 2021 Report Share Posted September 24, 2021 "Emotions are the automatic results of man's value judgments integrated by his subconscious; emotions are estimates of that which furthers man's values or threatens them, that which is for him or against him - lightning calculators giving him the sum of his profit or loss." -"The Objectivist Ethics" from The Virtue of Selfishness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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