Definition of

Irrational

Danger

The opposite of reason is irrational: for example, sitting to rest on the railroad tracks is an irrational act.

The etymology of irrational comes from the Latin word irrationālis . A word that has been formed from the union of the following Latin lexical components:

-The prefix “in-”, which is used to indicate “no” or “without”.

-The verb “reor”, which is synonymous with “think” and “believe”.

-The suffix “-cion”, which indicates “action and effect”.

-The suffix “-al”, which is equivalent to “relative to”.

It is an adjective that is used to describe what is not right or is contrary to it . For example: “It is irrational to try to reverse the economic crisis with a devaluation that will only impoverish people even more,” “The club leadership once again showed itself irrational by getting rid of the team's best young players to hire veterans who are close by.retirement” , “The young man was the victim of an irrational attack when he was having an ice cream in the park” .

Concept of irrational

Among the words that can function as synonyms for irrational, some stand out such as foolish, crazy, gross or lost. On the contrary, its antonyms include thoughtful, coherent and sensible.

The notion of reason refers to the faculty that allows human beings to produce and question concepts, looking for contradictions or similarities and generating other ideas derived from them. That which is endowed with reason, which therefore has coherence or logic, is known as rational: that which lacks reason, on the other hand, is irrational.

An example

Suppose a young man's leg has been hurting badly for several days. Instead of resting and consulting a doctor, he opts to go play soccer to see if the discomfort goes away. This is an irrational decision , since physical activity will most likely aggravate your condition.

In the same way, we have to establish that there are so-called irrational thoughts, which are those that manifest themselves in the form of a need or even a demand and that have a marked absolutist tone. Hence, if those are not fulfilled, the person who has them acts violently or with notable anger.

irrational number

Pi is an irrational number.

irrational number

In the field of mathematics , a quantity or a root that cannot be expressed accurately through whole numbers or fractional numbers is classified as irrational.

This differentiates irrational numbers from rational numbers , which can be expressed as the quotient of two integers. Pi is the best-known irrational number: it reveals the relationship between the length of a circle and its diameter, expressed as 3.14159265…

The term in book and movie titles

Likewise, we find works that have the term we are analyzing in their titles. This would be the case of “Irrational Exuberance,” a 2015 work written by Robert J. Shiller, the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Furthermore, in the cinema we come across films such as “The Irrational Man”. It is a film of American origin, which was released in 2015 and is directed by Woody Allen. It tells the story of a university professor of Philosophy who, in the midst of an existential crisis, begins a relationship with one of his students.