Uploaded February 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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I’ve always been interested in the quest for rationality in public policy, and I’ve surprisingly encountered resistance here and there amongst people saying that humans are at their core irrational beings. What is the proper balance, then, between logic and emotion in Rational decision making? Wanting to explore this thought, I’ve sought out an expert on the topic.

Justin E. H. Smith is professor of the history and philosophy of science at the University of Paris. He is the author, among other books, of Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason (Princeton University Press, 2019), and of the forthcoming The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is (Princeton, 2021). He writes a regular Substack newsletter at https://justinehsmith.substack.com.

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