rationalityn.
/ˌraʃəˈnalᵻti/, U.S. /ˌræʃəˈnælədi/ 1. Mathematics. The property of a number or quantity of being rational (rational adj. 7a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > rational
rationality1570
rational1668
1570 H. Billingsley in tr. Euclid Elements Geom. x. f. 246v These wordes in length and in power are neuer referred to rationalitie or irrationalitie.
1590 T. Hood tr. P. de La Ramée Elem. Geom. i. f.1 Rational magnitudes are those whose rationalitie [L. ratio] may bee expressed by the number of some measure geuen.
1684 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 14 578 Whether or in what place one or both sorts of limits shall loose their rationality?
1743 A. Thacker Misc. Math. Probl. I. 57 All these Things..are chiefly valuable upon account of their Rationality, whereby they keep the Process wherein they are used from the Incumbrance of Surd Quantities.
1856 Proc. Royal Soc. 8 462 The forms of ϕ, ψ, and χ are quite unrestricted, except by the condition of rationality.
1904 F. Cajori Introd. Mod. Theory Equations xiii. 134 A set of numbers is called a domain of rationality..when the sums, differences, products, and quotients of any numbers in the set..always yield as results numbers belonging to the set.
1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xxxix. 930 By an algebraic form we understand a rational integral homogeneous function in n variables with coefficients in some definite domain of rationality (field).
2004 Jrnl. Number Theory 108 183 Rationality of γα follows from Theorem 1.
2. The quality or condition of possessing reason; the ability to exercise reason.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > quality of being reasonable
reasona1325
skilfulnessc1440
reasonableness?c1510
rationality1628
reasonability1653
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 49 Rationalitie is the intrinsecall part of man.
1699 G. Farquhar Love & Bottle v. i. 54 Thou hast Impudence enough to draw thy Rationality in Question.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. vii. 129 Some kind of brute Force within, prevails over the Principle of Rationality.
1777 M. Morgann Ess. Dramatic Char. Falstaff 159 [Vice] is inconsistent with moral agency, nay, with rationality itself.
1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. i. ii. 9 She spoke with great rationality.
1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent ii. viii. 274 We call rationality the distinction of man, when compared with other animals.
1945 K. R. Popper Open Society II. xiv. 90 The method of applying a situational logic to the social sciences is not based on any psychological assumption concerning the rationality..of ‘human nature’.
1964 M. McLuhan Understanding Media (1967) i. vi. 71 This image of a unified ratio among the senses was long held to be the mark of our rationality and may in the computer age become so again.
2002 D. DeGrazia Animal Rights iii. 50 A high degree of rationality is necessary for complex reasoning in response to certain feelings—such as devising elaborate plans for improving your health.
3.
a. The fact or condition of being based on, or in accordance with, reason or rationalism.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > basis in reason
reasonablenessc1443
place1593
rationality1637
rationalness?1649
1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. V. Malvezzi Romulus & Tarquin 271 Mongst barbarous people, where bodies governe the mind, where rationality [It. rationalità] is in habit, not in act..let there be regall power.
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs ⁋234 The ingenuity and rationality of it will prevail more then our slender performances.
1681 Whole Duty of Nations 20 The Wisdom, and unquestionable Rationality of the Divine Ordination among the Jews.
1709 T. Harward Visitation Serm. 11 If the Rationality of our Faith had been designed to Propagate Christianity, what needed the Energy of Grace?
1744 J. Harris Three Treat. iii. i. 155 [To society] we owe..the very Elegance and Rationality of our Existence.
1779 W. Bennett Diss. Teeth & Gums 9 It is by no means thought necessary to give a physiological account of the teeth, any farther than to convey to the reader a just idea of the rationality of what will hereafter be advanced on the subject of their diseases.
1806 A. Knox Remains I. 29 To preserve the rationality of religion..to secure it from the charge of enthusiasm.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. ii. 21 A principle of belief, to which he flatly denies rationality.
1908 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. 3 166 Any act..is immediately justified by distorting the mental processes concerned and providing a false explanation that has a plausible ring of rationality.
1933 J. L. Gillin Social Pathol. xxvi. 452 Capitalism is characterized by rationality. By that we mean a tendency to long range planning, careful consideration of the adaptation of means to ends, and cold and careful calculation of what measures will bring the greatest gain.
1969 Simon & Stedry in G. Lindzey & E. Aronson Handbk. Social Psychol. (ed. 2) V. xl. 272 The first [principle] is the assumption of objective rationality, which permits strong predictions to be made about human behavior without the painful necessity of observing people.
2001 C. Coker Humane Warfare iv. 75 With the discrediting of the philosophical systems which claimed to have banished religion itself to the margins of social life..there is not even a strong philosophical reason to..dismiss religion as an error which is destined to succumb to scientific rationality.
b. As a count noun: a rational or reasonable view, practice, etc. Frequently in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > basis in reason > matter having
reasonc1230
shayth1542
rationality1654
rational1874
1654 J. Ellistone & J. Sparrow tr. J. Böhme Mysterium Magnum li. §25. 364 The law of nature was to be Christs Sojourner, and the true man also was to live under the law of nature in a Right rationality [Ger. vernunfftigkeit].
1660 Bp. J. Taylor Ductor Dubitantium I. ii. ii. 369 There are some little rationalities..which are well and decent and pretty.
1660 R. Burney Κέρδιστον Δῶρον 57 The Civilians.., who depend upon that great Head of Rationalities, Iustinian.
1725 J. Reynolds Three Lett. to Deist iii. 266 The Advancements that have been made in the Light of natural Religion, have highly illustrated the Conguities and Rationalities of the sacred Insitution.
1835 F. W. Faber Lett. (1869) 21 Anticipating quite as much danger from the mysticisms of Newman as from the rationalities of Whately.
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism (1878) II. 148 The rights of rationalities became a great question in Europe.
1909 H. D. Roberts Hope St. Church, Liverpool xxi. 394 [They] pressed home the urgent necessity bearing upon the occupant of their pulpit to lay open the rationalities of his mind with..sincerity and fulness.
2002 R. G. Mitchell Dancing at Armageddon v. 159 Gale's charismatic performance..opened the dialogue to alternative..rationalities.
c. The tendency to regard everything from a purely rational point of view.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > rational tendency
rationality1660
1660 R. Stapleton in tr. Juvenal Mores Hominum 452 The Stoick: whose Sect would not allow a man to have any passion, as not agreeable to his rationality.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1784 II. 489 Even men of pretty dry rationality may believe, that there was an intermediate interposition of divine Providence.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda IV. viii. lviii. 178 Phlegmatic rationality stares and shakes its head at these unaccountable prepossessions.
1988 F. Kaplan Dickens iv. 88 His preference for the straight and narrow was deeply embedded in his simplistic rationality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [noun] > fundamental reason or logical basis
reasona1425
rational1621
ratio1638
rationality1646
rationale1651
predicate1832
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 373 Many well directed intentions, whose rationalities will never beare a rigid examination. View more context for this quotation
1701 T. Beverley Grand Apoc. Question 2 This I would endeavour by Divine Assistance to Argue upon such Rationalities of Mystic Prophecy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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