A framework examining the infrastructure underlying rationality itself—the systems, structures, and conditions that
make rational thought possible and shape what counts as rational. Infrarationality asks not just what rational choices are but what must be in place for rationality to operate: cognitive infrastructure (
attention, memory, reasoning capacity), informational infrastructure (
data, evidence, reliable sources), social infrastructure (communities of inquiry, standards of argument, practices of critique), institutional infrastructure (
education,
science,
law), and conceptual infrastructure (frameworks, categories, assumptions). It also examines how this infrastructure shapes what counts as rational—how different infrastructures produce different rationalities, how changes in infrastructure transform rational possibilities, how claims to rationality often obscure the infrastructure that makes them possible. Infrarationality reveals that rationality is never just rationality—it's
always rationality built on infrastructure, and understanding rationality requires understanding the ground from which it grows.
Example: "His infrarationality analysis showed how the 'rational actor' of economic theory depends on infrastructure
real humans lack—perfect information, unlimited computing
power, stable preferences. Change the infrastructure assumptions, and rational
choice looks very different."
