Philosophy 2220 - Homework on Rationality

1. Give two pieces of evidence from the reading that people are not good at determining what is good for them - that the things people think are in their own interest are often actually not. The two pieces of evidence should be from two different articles in the reading.(2pts)

2. Give two pieces of evidence from the reading that people are often not good at pursuing their goals. (2pts)

3. Paternalism is the view that sometimes the government should control your behavior for your own good - not to protect other people from you, but to protect you from yourself. How does the excerpt from Wisdom of Crowds support paternalism? (2pts)

4. Find evidence, from a reputable source, for the claim that people are generally, or on average, either not very good at pursuing their goals, or not very good at setting goals for themselves. Further, this should not just be evidence that people are generally ignorant, but rather evidence that we are not good at finding information, or that we are not good at using it when we have it. This evidence should not duplicate anything from the reading you have been given (although the readings for today gives you an idea of the sort of thing I'm looking for). Attach your evidence to this homework, and give me a link to where you found it. Briefly summarize what you have found.(4pts)
[If you are having a hard time with this, try looking up "bias," or "cognitive bias," or "irrationality," or "bounded rationality," or "heuristics and biases."]