Arational

Overview

Something which is arational is not grounded in rationality but is not necessarily irrational i.e. going directly against rationality. It typically applies to beliefs in areas for which no firm rationality-based conclusions have been reached.

Misuse

It is often used as a sort of "weasel concept" to justify belief in that which is extremely unlikely but nonetheless not provably false.

Links

• Reason and Faith: "What is “arational” or above the reason is what reason and science cannot define. It cannot be proven nor can it be disproved. Take the example of the survival of the soul after the death. There is no hard evidence to this belief, but no scientific fact has disproved it either."
• 1991-02 Arational Actions, Rosalind Hursthouse, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 88, No. 2, pp. 57-68