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==Definition==

===In terms of epistemic and instrumental rationality===

According to the theory of rational irrationality, there are two distinct forms of rationality:

* ''[[Epistemic]]'' rationality, which roughly involves consists forming beliefs in truth-conducive ways, making reasonable efforts to avoid fallacious reasoning and keeping an open mind for new evidence.
* ''[[Instrumental rationality|Instrumental]]'' rationality, which involves choosing the correct means to attain one’s actual goals, given one’s actual beliefs. This is the type of rationality that [[rational choice theory]] (and hence much of microeconomics) implicitly alludes to.

Rational irrationality describes a situation where it is ''instrumentally'' rational to be ''epistemically'' irrational.

===Conditions for rational irrationality===

Rational irrationality is more likely in situations where:

* people have ''preferences over beliefs'', i.e., some kinds of beliefs are more appealing than others, with this appeal being unrelated to the truth or lack thereof of the belifes, and
* the marginal cost to an individual of holding an erroneous (or irrational) belief is low.

===In terms of a demand for irrationality===

In the framework of [[neoclassical economics]], there is a ''demand for irrationality''. A person's [[demand curve]] describes the amount of irrationality that the person is willing to tolerate at any given cost of irrationality. By the [[law of demand]], the lower the cost of irrationality, the higher the demand for it. When the cost of error is zero, a person's demand for irrationality is high, reflecting the usual operation of the demand curve, possibly exemplified by a [[zero price effect]].

Rational irrationality - Revision history

Vipul: Created page with "==Definition== ===In terms of epistemic and instrumental rationality=== According to the theory of rational irrationality, there are two distinct forms of rationality: * ''..."