Law of Rational Paradigms

The principle that rationality operates within paradigms—that what counts as rational is framework-dependent, that standards of rationality shift over time and vary across contexts. The Law of Rational Paradigms argues that there is no transhistorical, transcultural standard of rationality; there are only rational paradigms, each adequate to its context, each limited by its assumptions. Scientific rationality is one paradigm; legal rationality is another; everyday rationality is another. None is rationality itself; all are rationalities, each valid within its domain. The law doesn't say reason is arbitrary; it says reason is plural, and that the task is to understand different rational paradigms.

Example: "She'd thought rationality was the same for everyone, everywhere. The Law of Rational Paradigms showed her otherwise: what was rational in court wasn't rational in lab; what was rational in one culture wasn't rational in another. Rationality wasn't one thing; it was many, each valid in its context. She stopped looking for universal reason and started learning local rationalities."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Spectral Variables (Rationality)

The hidden factors that shape what counts as "rational" in a given context, influencing judgments without appearing in conscious deliberation. These include emotional states (fear makes certain options look irrational), social pressures (what your peers would think), embodied cognition (how hungry or tired you are), and cultural narratives (stories about what rational people do). Spectral variables in rationality explain why the same person can make brilliant decisions in one context and terrible ones in another—not because their reasoning ability changed, but because the ghosts haunting their rationality shifted. True wisdom involves learning to sense these ghosts before they sense you.

Spectral Variables (Rationality) "I thought I was making a purely rational career decision. Then therapy revealed the Spectral Variables: I was still trying to impress my dad, who's been dead for five years. Rationality is never just rationality—it's haunted by everything you haven't dealt with."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 23, 2026