Ivan Phillips

Textbook Rationality Ivan Phillips

A primer on rational thinking... and a plan for teaching it in schools




We all want to be the rational parent, the rational consumer, and the rational voter. So why is it that so few of us can readily define what it means to think rationally?




In this timely and inspiring book, Ivan Phillips argues that irrationality is rampant because we have never taught the key principles of rational thinking in schools. In concise and accessible writing, Textbook Rationality explains:

How to distinguish rational thinking the from irrational and non-rational thinkingWhy rationality and critical thinking are not the same thingHow to use Bayesian reasoning to decide what is trueHow to anticipate cognitive bias and employ countermeasuresHow to squeeze a course on rationality into a high school curriculum