The ability to engage with philosophical debates about the
nature, scope, and foundations of reason and rationality. It covers questions about the relationship between reason and
emotion, the role of values in reasoning, the possibility of universal reason, and the historical development of rational ideals. This literacy enables one to critically assess foundational claims about what reason is and to recognize that appeals to “reason” often
smuggle in philosophical assumptions.
Philosophy of Reason and Rationality Literacy
Example: “His literacy in the philosophy of reason and rationality let him
see that the ‘rational actor’ model in economics was a philosophical
choice, not a description of human nature—one that had been contested for centuries.”