Affirmative Rationality

My pen name is Virginia Vallee. This web site (Affirmative Rationality dot com) is part of a research project on rationality that I have been doing for many years. The goal of this project is to encourage people to upgrade their rational skills, help advance the quality of the rational style of the community and promote civil discourse. This project recognizes that there already exists substantial rational acuity in our society but also points out there are pitfalls to avoid and room for improvement. We have much to gain in every aspect of life by improving rational skills, individually and collectively.

For many years I have been interested in the philosophical foundations of science, logic and rationality. This curiosity started young and was the main reason I obtained degrees in chemistry and biology.

In college, while grabbling with the basics of science, I took a course in "The Trivium" where I learned the connection between syllogistic logic and scientific research. This fed my interest in the development of rational philosophy. After graduating in 1951, I married, and began raising a family. To maintain my research skills and satisfy my curiosity, I embarked on an intensive study of the history of logic and rationality in general. This 'logic project' became my avocation and has been my passion ever since. In the process I have read thousands of books on the subject, attended numerous classes and lectures, taken part in book clubs and have acquired reams of information.

One of the avenues of my research that proved unusually fruitful was an in-depth study of the logical education of the Founders of the United States. This was a three prong search for 1] what they said, 2] what they did and 3] the educational background that helped set their accomplishments in motion. My project involved examining the educational policies of colonial America, the learning environment, popular subjects and teachers of the day. I also researched many of the founders individually and tracked down the books they read and when they read them. It is my belief that the logic learned in primary education has a profound impact throughout one's life.

I read many of the same rational theories the founders encountered in their education and imagined how they might have been affected in their particular settings. I concentrated particularly on logic publications or books with substantive logical content. These texts contained similar basic ideas of rational requirements.

Research on the logical education of the US Founders was rewarding. Patterns became clear and several theories with interesting possibilities came to mind. One theory I have developed with a good deal of success is that there is a direct relation between the quality of rational theory learned in primary education and the ability later to reason together and solve problems constructively.

My research showed the Founders to be a diverse group of people with widely different world views and opinions. The rational style of Colonial America allowed this group to function productively. Not only did they learn the same basic requirements of right reason but the guidelines they adopted were remarkably sound. This web site is a part of my research in defending this theory.

In related research, I studied other thinking methods that run counter to affirmative rationality I found generally shared by the US Founders. These counter-affirmative methods tended to produce societies where people were less able to reason together consturtively in governmental matters.

Since I advocate that people make a personal commitment to affirmative rationality, this site concentrates on the affirmative.

My plan is to begin by explaining affirmative rationality and how to recognize the rudimentary requirements that must be met for rationality to be sound. When that is in place, we will be in a position to better evaluate 'counter-affirmative' alternatives.

My method is speculative with an eye on the credible. 'Credible speculation' refers to procedures in which principles are proposed for consideration, examined for results and explored for probable consequences. As principles are well substantiated, they become more and more reliable but not absolute.

Credible speculation recognizes that there are gaps between what is said, what is heard and what actually is. These are inherent difficulties in language. The affirmative thinker presumes truth is firm and is to be discovered and not constructed by human genius.

The definitions in this study are stipulated with care. Carefully stipulated definitions are terms defined specifically for a particular study so as to avoid the fallacy of equivocation. This does not mean the stipulator considers other definitions wrong. Stipulation simply means that the stipulator aims to restrict usage of certain terms to the definition specified in a controlled setting.

Writing from a credible-speculative point of view using carefully stipulated definitions is about as far from being dogmatic as one can get. This presentation is a discourse open to modification. It is not a manifesto to be promulgated.

Obviously credible speculation using stipulated definitions is not new.
This is what affirmative rational philosophers have done since antiquity. I am merely emphasizing an important aspect of a standard procedure.

A companion web site, plusroot-dot-com, presents 23 Chapters of a book, The Roots of Sound Rational Thinking and several essays on the same subject. Both sites are concerned with the subject of "Rationality". They help explain each other. Both share the same glossary, which you can access at . Both places emphasize my limitations and my willingness to make changes. This is what speculation is.

In discussing the subject of 'rationality' I believe that the issues involved are serious and require a higher degree of accuracy than is occurring. I hope you will find something here of use in your own search for ever increasing wisdom, justice and good will.

Updated Feb. 26, 2008