Week 11 Question 2: Rationality, Perfectibility, and Mutability Premises

I do believe in rationality, perfectibility, and mutability. According to Larry Samovar, Richard Porter, and Nemi Jain, the rationality premise is the belief that most people are capable of discovering the truth throgh logical analysis. In my opinion, I feel that education and the teachings of many parents encourage us to look at situations through the rationality premise. We should always be logical first and then emotions second. I was always told by many of my teachers that emotions can manipulate and logical is always wise. Even in society today, people are considered insane if they are too emotional and people are considered normal and mentally capable when they are rational. Even though sometimes I am told to follow my heart, I was also told that I need to think things through logically before making any decision.

The perfectibility premise believes that people are born in sin but are capable of achieving goodness through effort and control. I feel that the perfectibility premise is mostly practiced by Puritans, Christians, and mostly religious people who feel they need to work hard at being a good person. For an example, I know that many Christians go to church because they want to achieve that goodness, and they believe that going to church shows effort. Another example is a Buddhist monk who dedicates his whole life to being a Buddhist by giving up all earthly desires. They want to achieve goodness and nirvana though their dedication. When parents are religious, they may impose this beliefs unto their child. Then their child may feel that they always have to achieve perfection. Some people feel that to gain trust, they have to earn it and prove that they are trustworthy. This belief stems from the fact that all are capable of being hurtful. An example is that some women feel that they cannot trust men because they have been hurt by men before. So from then, in order for the man to gain the woman's trust, he has to show that he is a good person.

Finally the mutability premise believes that human behavior is shaped by environmental actors and the way to improve humans is to improve their physical and psychological circumstances. I do agree with the believe that human behavior is based on the physical circumstances like how their body looks. For an example, some people feel that their happiness depends on their appearance. This stems from the insecurities of their looks, so they attempt to change their body through dieting, exercising, or extremes like plastic surgery. This is when the human behavior is shaped by the physical circumstances. Human behaviors are also shaped by their physical surroundings and location. For an example, an individual may act outgoing and wild when they are at a night club, but may appear professional in an interview.

I completely agree with all three basic beliefs and it can apply to everyone at different stages of life.

Signing Out,
Events Dreamer