What is Rational Psychology?
Rational psychology is a part of mathematics, and is concerned with
mathematical and conceptual analysis of psychological notions. It is
not the study of rationality in the sense of economics and
decision theory; the aim is to find the most apt ways of understanding
all agents, whether rational or irrational. For more detail, see Jon
Doyle's manifesto ``What is Rational
Psychology? Toward a modern mental philosophy''.
While the name Rational Psychology was used in earlier times (mainly as a synonym for philosophical psychology before the advent of modern mathematical logic), Jon Doyle reintroduced the term in 1982 as the psychological correspondent of the field of Rational Mechanics, the field of Isaac Newton, Clifford Truesdell, and others.
Last modified: Mon Apr 7 14:55:32 EDT 2003
Jon Doyle <doyle@mit.edu>