Latest / Philosophics — Philosophical and Political Ramblings
Le Bon, Crowds, and the Irrational Baseline
Philosopher Bry Willis from the "Philosophics" blog critiques the century-old crowd psychology thesis proposed by Gustave Le Bon, who suggested that rational individuals become irrational only when merging into a crowd. The author contends that this view, rooted in an Enlightenment belief in the inherently rational person, is overly flattering and inaccurate according to modern behavioural science. Citing work from Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely, the piece argues that humans are fundamentally and predictably irrational due to ingrained cognitive biases. Therefore, the text concludes that…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.