Beyond Reason

TUT 100 - Virtue in Animal and Machine - Professor Weinman



Answer the following questions. Record your answers in your Reading Journal.
  1. Select the sentence from today's reading by Wallach and Allen that you feel best summarizes why the authors feel it is necessary to go "beyond reason." Briefly (3-5 sentences) explain your selection.
  2. Describe a situation from your own experience in which you made a decision by satisficing. Briefly explain why it qualifies as an example of satisficing.
  3. Pepe et al. (paraphrasing Fellous) say that the purpose of emotion is "using as little resources as possible with the highest change in behavior" (p. 227). Identify the sentence or short passage (no more than three sentences) from Wallach and Allen's chapter that you feel is most closely related. Briefly explain whether your choice supports, denies, or complicates the characterization of Pepe et al.
  4. Wallach and Allen (summarizing Damasio) say
    A somatic marker [or "feeling"] system prunes the decision tree and thereby facilitates decision making. Looked at from another perspective, the network of interrelated somatic markers ["feelings"] can be thought of as providing scaffolding on which the capacity to reason is built. (p. 148)
    In your own words, briefly describe an aspect of Pepe et al.'s MARC system that you feel is most closely related. Briefly explain whether your observation demonstrates, contradicts, or complicates the characterization of Wallach and Allen.
  5. Select the sentence from any of today's readings that you found most surprising or controversial. Briefly explain your choice.