Rational and Non-Rational Processes
When
one thinks of the meaning of the word rational, they most likely think of order,
continuity and common sense. So
when one thinks of rational thought it would seem that one would use these
processes in their reasoning. Yet,
when Alfred North Whitehead writes of rational processes he is referring to
processes that takes one beyond the order of things.
Where it would seem to be rational is to base one’s judgements,
findings, and knowledge on fact, Whitehead believes that Reason goes beyond this
ordering of facts. Reason delves
into the imagination and combines what is there with our innate desire to better
ourselves. It takes these processes
together to attain the desired end.
In
other words, we cannot better ourselves if we only use those facts presently
known to us. Knowledge, for
instance, is an accumulation of facts, but is not useful until it is combined
with imagination to produce new ideas, thoughts, and the better way of life.
According to Whitehead, man’s existence is lived primarily as an attack
on his environment. This attack is
carried out as a part of “…a three-fold urge:
(i) to live, (ii) to live well, (iii) to live better.” (Whitehead, p.8)
Reason is one force that man uses to direct this attack.
Whitehead
seems to be saying that irrational processes are those which have to do with the
desire to stay within the boundaries of proven methodology.
It is his contention that, “…you cannot limit a problem by reason of
a method of attack,” (Whitehead, p. 15) and that is why this type of thought
process is irrational. By adhering
to accepted methodology the tendency is to feel that once it appears something
has been proved it is time to be content with the knowledge and not consider any
other evidence. Rationality, on the
other hand, realizes that just because what we know works, or fits within the
known facts, this does not mean we’ve come to the end of what we can know.
The rational process then is the creative process.
It is the irrational process that looks only to the facts of a subject in
a quest to understand and improve. The
rational process goes beyond the order of things in an attempt to discover new
perspectives on the subjects. And,
it is through these new perspectives that a better way of life is discovered.
While
Whitehead admits that Reason has traditionally been considered a part of
rational thought, he believes Reason has a higher calling, a more enlightening
purpose. Traditionally, “The
method works and Reason is satisfied. There
is no interest beyond the scope of the method.” (Whitehead, p. 17)
But if we see Reason as a catalyst that seeks some value in novelty and
“…provides the judgement by which it passes into realization in purpose, and
thence realization in fact,” (Whitehead,
p. 20) we can go beyond the traditional methods.
Reason looked at in this way makes sense of irrational behavior, and
eventually changes what was once considered the irrational into the rational.
Whitehead
does hedge somewhat before going so far as to say that rational thought is
really irrational thought. Reason
must use what knowledge is available in order to make sense of what is being
studied or considered. He
introduces the idea of speculative Reason to justify his apparent contention
that irrational methods are in the long run rational.
Rational though does not stop when a fact is known.
Instead, rational thought goes beyond the facts into the realm of
creativity. We may even be tempted
to call it science fiction. As a
matter of fact it was a science fiction writer whose work can be used to
exemplify the value of creative thought. Jules
Verne, in his writing, created an under water sea vessel called the Nautilus.
At the time he wrote “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,” the technology
was not such that made this ship any more than the wild idea of a science
fiction writer. But as we saw in
“Sleepwalkers” it is from the mind of dreamers that we get the germ of an
idea for either discovery or creation.
I
have often heard it said that if it can be thought of, then it can be created.
What both Whitehead, in “The Function of Reason,” and J. Bronowski,
in “Science and Human Behavior” are saying is that this creative mind is
absolutely necessary if we are to discover new things, and new ways of
accomplishing old things. It is
therefore impossible to go through a rational process without including more
than mere facts. To Bronowski there
must be added to facts, creativity. For
Whitehead, the added factor is called imagination, or subjective Reason. We must go beyond accepted methodology.
They are both referring to the aspect of rational process that looks
beyond the facts.
In
“Sleepwalkers” we can see how the apparently natural tendency to accept
facts at face value, that is, not question or go beyond them, prevented
scientist from making many new discoveries.
It was not until people such as Johannes Kepler began to use their
imaginations to approach a problem from a way other than that accepted did we
enter into the “modern” age of science.
And even then it was difficult to break from traditional methods. Kepler was able to combine his knowledge of astrology with
his knowledge of math and geometry. The
first was a part of the accepted science of the day; and it was accepted as
fact. The second too was a science
based more on absolutes than was astrology.
By combining the two he was able to create assumptions that eventually
led to the ideas of gravity and elliptical orbits. Yet he was not able to full recognize these discoveries
because his mind was filled with the accepted “facts” of the time.
It seems almost paradoxical that Kepler both discovered new ideas and
yet, at the same time, did not see them. But
that was the result of his world’s scientific paradigm.
Whitehead
argues that we are still limited by our own contemporary paradigms.
We still have the tendency to accept facts as the end of all needed
knowledge about a particular subject. By
behaving that way we limit our ability to move forward – to attain the better
life.
To
use the analogy of the science fiction writer again, I need only look to the
writers of the “Star Trek” shows. If
we were to stay within our accepted methodology and facts, we would consider the
“transporter” on the Starship Enterprise as mere fiction; impossible to
attain in the real world. This
transporter was somehow able to disassemble an object or being’s molecular
make-up, and “transport” them to a pre-determined location where they would
come back together in the exact form as the original object or being.
All this in a matter of an instant.
Rational
processes would look at the facts as we currently know them and discount this as
impossible. Based on today’s methodology, they would say, there is
nothing that would lead a credible scientist to believe that such a transporting
system is possible. But this is
precisely where the imagination Whitehead speaks of; and the creativity
Bronowski speaks of, enters. If man
can think of it, as I’ve often heard, then it can be done.
As Bronowski sees it, man simply needs to find out how to juxtapose two
apparently unassociated fields of knowledge.
In other words, to be creative in the way he approaches and uses the
facts on hand.
This
to him, and to Whitehead, is the crux of the rational process.
The process of attaining this is what Whitehead calls speculative Reason.
“The speculative Reason produces that accumulation of theoretical
understanding which at critical moments enables a transition to be made toward
new methodologies.” (Whitehead,
p. 39)
Speculative
Reason is the irrational process that leads to new discoveries and the better
way of life. But, it was practical
reason, according to Whitehead, that became the basis of irrational processes.
He concedes that practical reason has a purpose; to fulfill a function,
but “…when it has rendered purpose effective, it has fulfilled its function
and lulls itself with self-satisfaction.”
(Whitehead, p. 37) Bronowski
also concedes that need for the practical.
“Of course the unoriginal work keeps the world going….” (Bronowski,
p. 9) But it is speculative Reason,
the art of discovery that brings about the better life. Irrational methods lead to rational methodologies.
Speculative Reason leads to new ideas which, once accepted as truth,
become a part of Reason. As a matter of fact, it is Reason that judges the creative
thought, and determines whether or not that novel thought will be accepted as
Reason, or rational thought.
A
science, or even a nation for that matter, which is based solely on rational
thought will die. There must be
included the creativity of irrational thought.
Without creativity, without the ability to allow paradigm shifts, the
quest for a better life would be fruitless.
“[R]esearch under a paradigm must be a particularly effective way of
including paradigm change. That is
what fundamental novelties of fact and theory do.” (Kuhn, p. 52)
New ways must be tested. Irrational
thought processes must be given consideration.
The results of these processes must be given a chance to be proved as
true, or shown to be false. “If
[the practical man] is to break out of what has been done before, he must bring
to his own tools the same sense of pride and discovery which the poet brings to
words. He cannot afford to be less
radical in conceiving and less creative in designing a new turbine than a new
world system. And this is why in
turn practical discoveries are not made only by practical men.”
(Bronowski, p. 9)
This
is Bronowski’s summation. Science
is better off because it allows new ideas.
Because it seeks the truth it must allow these ideas to be examined.
It thereby keeps its integrity intact.
“What science has to teach us here is not its techniques but its
spirit: the irresistible need to explore.” (Bronowski, p. 72)
And, as science explores, it builds a base from which other, newer
paradigms can be built.
Kepler
never realized the importance of many of the truths he discovered or theorized.
Much of his methodology was considered irrational; not within the scope
of accepted methodology. If,
however, he had not theorized about such concepts as the pull of objects toward
each other, later scientists, such as Newton, may not have been able to
articulate the truth found in their explanations of scientific phenomena.
These theories became fact. Irrational
processes evolved into rational processes as it was shown that the theories
complied with what was known; and as it began to make sense.
Both
Bronowski and Whitehead insist that pure science is only successful as it
includes creativity. As Kant has
said, “the ideas of pure reason can never be dialectical in themselves….”
(Kant, p. 549) In other words you
cannot depend totally on logical processes to produce new and usable ideas or
methods. Creativity must be
transformed into a part of the rational process.
When rational processes become an end in themselves then the discipline,
whether science, government, or religion, will begin to die.
Works Cited
Bronowski, J. Science and Human Values. New York:
Harper & Row, 1965.
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Trans.
Norman Kemp Smith. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1965.
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
2nd ed. Enlarged. Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1970.
Whitehead, Alfred North.
The Function of Reason. Boston: Beacon Press, 1929.
