Sedimentation: the existentialist challenge to stereotypes | Aeon Ideas

is head of philosophy at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. His latest book is Rethinking Existentialism (2018). Edited byNigel Warburton Published in association with Oxford University Press, an Aeon Strategic Partner Frantz Fanon. Photo by photographymontreal Is there any point thinking about what to do? It is often said that our judgments and behaviour are really caused by immediate intuitions and gut feelings, with reasoning happening only afterwards. But that claim misses an important point. Experiments also indicate that reasoning shapes the cognitive system that produces future responses. The more we reason that something is good or bad, right or wrong, attractive or unattractive, the more influential that attitude becomes over our intuitions and gut feelings. Aristotle would not be surprised. His ethics rests on his idea that character develops in precisely this way. Aristotle’s view, however, does not explain how your thought and behaviour can be influenced by social stereotypes

is head of philosophy at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. His latest book is Rethinking Existentialism (2018). Edited byNigel Warburton Published in association with Oxford University Press, an Aeon Strategic Partner Frantz Fanon. Photo by photographymontreal Is there any point thinking about what to do? It is often said that our judgments and behaviour are really caused by immediate intuitions and gut feelings, with reasoning happening only afterwards. But that claim misses an important point. Experiments also indicate that reasoning shapes the cognitive system that produces future responses.