Yo-yo Rationality Attributions

Abstract The author seeks a cure to an inconsistency about rationality. On the one hand, one’s rationality is a prerequisite for another to understand one’s action in terms of one’s beliefs and desires. Why bother to attribute beliefs and desires if they do not output one’s action as a logical conclusion? On the other hand, rationality is a scarce resource. One’s ability to optimize outcomes depends on attention, self-control, memory, and computational power. Since one has a limited stock of each, another should attribute only as much as needed to explain one’s action. But it is impossible to minimize rationality (as a cost) while also maximizing rationality (as the framework within which all costs are calculated). One is inconsistent about rationality—as evident from the ups and downs of attempts to explain another’s actions. The author surveys the symptoms along with six diagnoses.