A Portion of Reason

This book is a collection of essays that examine various subjects in which unreasonableness or low standards of rationality substitute sentimentality for sober thought and thereby restrict action. The essays defend the interconnected values of reasonableness and freedom. Contents: Introduction; Method: Irrationality; Morality: Taking Morality Seriously; Vulgarity; Justice, Merit, and the Good; Science and Animal Experimentation; Education: The Irrelevance of Relevance; The Cult of Anti-Rationalism in Education; Knowledge in a University; Reflections of An Elitist; Can the Humanities Help Us?; Words Without Thought; The Captive University; Society: Petty Despotism; Macmillan Publishing Company on Sex and Race; Marcuse's One-Dimensional Vision; More Clothes for the Emperor: "Mental Health"; Should We Try to Breed Better People?; About Pornography; Life: Death and Dignity.