A New Theory of Human Understanding

This event was recorded live at The RSA on Thursday 1st June 2017 Many of us believe our capacity to reason helps us to acquire knowledge and make better decisions - but what if it has an entirely different purpose? Cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier and his colleague Dan Sperber have made waves with the surprising results of years of research – that our power to reason has nothing to do with accuracy or truth-seeking. Mercier visits the RSA to present their astounding thesis: that the essential function of reason is not solitary but social - it exists to help us convince other people or groups of our arguments. Discover more about this event here: https://www.thersa.org/events/2017/05/a-new-theory-of-human-understanding