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p.185 Getting what we naively and unevaluatedly want can be a hollow business. And ironically, when hedonically affective happiness is pursued, however rationally and intelligently, it inclines to flee.
[JLJ - ...which is why, in my philosophy, we ought to have a practical scheme which we execute in order to 'go on.' We must plan for 'what next' not only after getting what we want, but also after we do not get what we want. Some goals are wisely pursued, some wisely abandoned.]
p.188 Reason itself is in the end our only trustworthy guide to whatever human undertakings are valid and appropriate.
[JLJ - Reason cannot 'magically' create for us plans to 'go on' which practically are effective in a complex and changing world, filled with clever agents like ourselves who are also executing practical schemes of maneuver to obtain what they want. Rationality of itself also cannot produce, from nowhere, schemes of expertise which produce a successful business, a sports championship or election victory, because these require a level of foresight and a personal degree of passion and in effect, require you to be the 'last man standing' in a race with no starting point and arguably no end point. You can be reasonable in every decision you make, yet have to close your business due to bankruptcy. Rescher is not cited in Harvard Business Review for good reason - rationality is just too vague a concept to guide competitive efforts involving money and ego and management.]
p.192 In sum, it emerges that those who distrust reason do not properly understand what is at issue.
[JLJ - ...yet those who wisely distrust reason alone to guide their lives have decided how to proceed in a way that makes sense to them. Rescher's argument parallels those who argue that their religious faith is correct and the rest incorrect. Reason alone will not of itself create for you a practical scheme to 'go on' that can be executed in a way that is also a way of 'being in the world' that 'works'. Reason alone will not create practically effective strategies in a complex world filled with intelligent competitive agents also pursuing their goals. Swing and a miss, Nicholas.]
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