The Importance of Being Rational
Errol Lord
Reviews and Awards
"Errol Lord's The Importance of Being Rational is a tour de force treatment of the relationship between reasons, rationality, knowledge, and what Lord calls creditworthiness, the kind of achievement where you don't just do what is right, but do it for the right reasons." -- Mark Schroeder, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
"Errol Lord's The Importance of Being Rational is a beautiful presentation of how one might defend a reasons-first approach to rationality. And it has many insights that will be useful to non-reasons-firsters as well. As such, there's a great deal in the details of Lord's arguments that repays careful consideration." -- Karl Schafer, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
"The Importance of Being Rational marks a new moment in debates about the nature of rationality. It is absolutely compulsory reading for epistemologists, ethicists, and meta-ethicists alike." -- Nathan Robert Howard, Ethics
"The Importance of Being Rational is a rich, ambitious, and thought-provoking book." -- Olle Risberg, European Journal of Philosophy
"[Lord's] book is an essential reading in the literature on reasons." -- Julia Staffel, The Philosophical Review
"the book is an admirable philosophical feat that rewards careful study. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the nature, and worth, of rationality." -- Carlos Núñez, The Philosophical Quarterly
"the book offers an informed, original, rich, sophisticated and exceptionally well-illustrated case for the claim that what we are rationally required to do and what we substantially ought to do is really the same thing. To follow Errol Lord on his route to this conclusion is a frequently rewarding experience and one that is well worth undertaking." -- Hallvard Lillehammer, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews