
Published online:
22 March 2012
Published in print:
06 April 2006
Online ISBN:
9780191689529
Print ISBN:
9780198528272
Contents
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2.1 Introduction 2.1 Introduction
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2.2 PP-rationality 2.2 PP-rationality
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2.3 E-rationality 2.3 E-rationality
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2.4 B-rationality 2.4 B-rationality
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2.5 Rational birds? Some experimental tests 2.5 Rational birds? Some experimental tests
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2.5.1 B-rationality: optimal foraging theory 2.5.1 B-rationality: optimal foraging theory
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2.5.2 B-rationality: To fly or to walk? 2.5.2 B-rationality: To fly or to walk?
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2.5.3 E-rationality 2.5.3 E-rationality
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2.5.4 PP-rationality: New Caledonian crows 2.5.4 PP-rationality: New Caledonian crows
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2.6 Conclusions: Are animals rational after all? 2.6 Conclusions: Are animals rational after all?
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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
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References References
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Cite
Kacelnik, Alex, 'Meanings of rationality', in Susan Hurley, and Matthew Nudds (eds), Rational Animals? (Oxford , 2006; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Mar. 2012), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528272.003.0002, accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
Abstract
This chapter examines the distinctions between three conceptions of rationality, employed in philosophy and psychology, in economics, and in biology. It suggests that an appropriate conception of rationality with which to address questions about the rationality of animals is one that focuses on outcomes rather than the processes that produce them. This conception of rationality is prevalent in economics and it states that behaviour that maximizes expected utility is rational.
Subject
Cognitive Psychology
Collection:
Oxford Scholarship Online
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