The Enigma of Reason

‘Filled with lively stories and vivid examples (involving ants, monsters, mosquitoes and dust bunnies, as well as paltry humans) … its central thesis is sharp and convincing … the argumentative theory of reason makes sense of human irrationality. * Times Literary Supplement *Elegant and compelling … Mercier and Sperber delight in turning conventional wisdom on its head … A timely and necessary book * Financial Times *Timely … an antidote to the dual-process models behind Kahneman’s famous Thinking, Fast and Slow. We need a faith in reason, and this book provides strong arguments that such faith is reasonable * Times Higher Education *Reason is more likely to confirm things that we want to be true, or which we already believe. So why does it exist? This new book provides the answer * Prospect *

Hugo Mercier

Hugo Mercier is a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, working in the Cognitive Science Institute Marc Jeannerod in Lyon.

Dan Sperber

Dan Sperber is a researcher in the departments of Cognitive Science and of Philosophy at the Central European University, Budapest, and in the Institut Jean Nicod at the Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris.