# Instrumental Rationality

> 【EN】Someone displays instrumental rationality insofar as she adopts suitable means to her ends. Instrumental rationality, by virtually any reckoning, is an important, and presumably indispensable, part of practical rationality. However, philosophers have been interested in it for further reasons. To take one example, it has been suggested that instrumental rationality, or some tendency toward it, is partly constitutive of intention, desire, or action. To take another, more important, example, it has been argued that instrumental rationality is not only a part, but a special part, or even the whole, of practical rationality. This thesis appears to threaten the “rational authority” of morality. It seems possible that acting morally on some occasion might not be a suitable means to an agent’s ends. … 【中】词条考察工具合理性的地位：为所设目的选取恰当手段，这一点几乎无人否认。争论在于，有人认为工具合理性或其倾向部分地构成意向、欲望与行动，更有人认为它就是实践合理性的全部，这一主张似乎威胁到道德的理性权威。文中讨论理性融贯与理由、工具传递性、对信念的认知要求、卡罗尔悖论，以及休谟与康德的相关立场。

- ID: m13289
- Category: decide
- Domain: 决策科学

## Definition

一个人在就其目的采取恰当手段的范围内显示出工具合理性。无论按何种标准，它都是实践合理性中重要且不可或缺的部分；更有争议的主张是，它不只是部分，而是实践合理性的特殊部分乃至全部。 脚手架作用：- 手段校准：目的已定却未采取必要手段时，倒逼修正手段、信念或目的。 - 目的中立：在不评判目的对错的前提下，独立评价行动的效率得失。

## How it works

工具合理性的规范形式通常被表述为一种传递性要求：若你有目的 E，且相信 M 是达成 E 的必要手段，理性就要求你采取 M，或放弃 E，或修正信念。它的约束力来自意向与信念之间的融贯关系，而不是来自目的本身的对错。

## Practice

1) 明确行动者的目的与可用手段；2) 检查其是否相信该手段能达成目的；3) 判断是否有更优或更省的手段被忽视；4) 记住它只评价手段与目的的匹配，不评价目的本身。

## Use

- 手段校准：目的已定却未采取必要手段时，倒逼修正手段、信念或目的。 - 目的中立：在不评判目的对错的前提下，独立评价行动的效率得失。

[Read the web page](https://thinkingmodels.site/en/entries/detail/m13289)