Inevitable illusions : how mistakes of reason rule our minds

Bibliographic Information

Inevitable illusions : how mistakes of reason rule our minds

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., c1994

Available at  / 4 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

First published in Italy as L'illusione di sapre

Description and Table of Contents

Description

"Fascinating and insightful...I cannot recall a book that has made me think more about the nature of thinking." -- Richard C. Lewontin Harvard University Everyone knows that optical illusions trick us because of the way we see. Now scientists have discovered that cognitive illusions, a set of biases deeply embedded in the human mind, can actually distort the way we think. In Inevitable Illusions, distinguished cognitive researcher Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini takes us on a provocative, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining exploration of the games our minds play. He opens the doors onto the newly charted realm of the cognitive unconscious to reveal the full range of illusions, showing how they inhibit our ability to reason--no matter what our educational background or IQ. Inevitable Illusions is stimulating, eye-opening food for thought.

Table of Contents

Cognitive Illusions. Our Spontaneous Intuitions: Angels or Demons?. A Brief Speleology of the Mind: An Easy Tunnel. Probability Illusions. Calculating the Unknown, or Bayes' Law. The Fallacy of Near Certainty. The Seven Deadly Sins. How to Emerge from the Tunnel of Pessimism. The Principle of Identity and the Psychology of Typicality. A (Rationally) Optimistic Conclusion. A Super-Tunnel. Appendices. Tunnel Exits. Sources. Suggested Reading. Index.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

  • NCID
    BA42607368
  • ISBN
    • 047115962X
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Original Language Code
    ita
  • Place of Publication
    Chichester
  • Pages/Volumes
    242 p.
  • Size
    24cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
Page Top