Reason & Rationality

About Reason & Rationality

Reason & Rationality empowers high school students to think rigorously about complex questions, distinguish factual belief from ideology, and engage in convivial, intellectual exchange. Students boost their critical thinking ability by crafting effective arguments as they discuss and debate the 20 biggest ideas in philosophy, politics and economics. The two-week summer immersive program is led by instructors from Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and other top universities. Reason & Rationality is the most fun way to give yourself an edge and stand out in classroom discussions and college interviews. Session 1 (Princeton Theological Seminary: June 8–14, 2025) ▶ The Value of a Human Life (cost-benefit analysis, present value discounting, the significance of future generations) ▶ Utilitarianism and The Veil of Ignorance ▶ Basic Logic, Intellectual Virtues, Properties of Arguments ▶ Moral Realism and Moral Relativism ▶ The Trolley Problem ▶ Supply and Demand ▶ COVID Lockdowns and Ice Cream Cones (total and marginal utility, opportunity cost) ▶ Private Property and Prices ▶ Complex Systems, Emergent Properties, and the Mystery of Consciousness ▶ Norms Unlike Our Own (primogeniture, bride price, dowries, indissoluble marriage, cousin marriage) Session 2 (Swarthmore College: July 27–August 2, 2025) ▶ Base Rates and the Base Rate Fallacy ▶ Selection Bias, Social Desirability Bias ▶ Preference Falsification and Self-Deception ▶ Harry Frankfurt on Bullshit ▶ Bayes’s Rule ▶ Do You Live in a Simulation? ▶ Rationality, Rationalism, and Pascal’s Wager ▶ The Conceptual Analysis of “Liberal” and “Conservative” ▶ Science Fiction and Philosophy: Life Extension and Universal Basic Income ▶ The Ethics of Selling Human Organs and Babies

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