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Consciousness is not the preeminent human characteristic. Rather it is reasoning — conscious and deliberate reasoning — that is generally assumed to be the ne plus ultra that makes us human. We can paraphrase Pericles and say the essence of consciousness is thought, and that of thought, reason. Or so we think. This paper attempts to demonstrate otherwise. After all, if we do not truly understand how our rationality functions, should we not raise fundamental questions (cf. Alva Noë) as to our understanding of consciousness?
The history of unalloyed reason is filled with problem solving failures and flawed decision making. If we expect rationality to hold the position of humanity's highest trait, it needs to be more productive and less deceptive. For example, we tend to perceive consciousness in creatures merely having the appearance of reason (e.g., Cynthia Breazeal's Kismet robot, Star Trek's Commander Data). Bound to this mistaken reverence for our rationality, we are blind to options. Often we settle for just good enough, i.e., satisficing. But if rationality is a false god (cf. Paul Feyerabend) can we not aspire to any higher use of reason? Without rationality as the epitome of consciousness, where is the evolutionary advantage of consciousness?
As William James noted in his Principles of Psychology, (Vol. Two) a hundred and twenty years ago, "Over immense departments of our thought we are still, all of us, in the savage state." Today, looking closely at the conscious reasoning process, we find loss of focus, i.e., mind-wandering. What we don't see is the invisible iceberg of non-conscious processes that do most of the real work of our putative rationality.
This paper depicts rationality as a Myth and reveals its limitations — and the alternatives. The Myth exposes rationality as a specious basis for artificial intelligence. The paper illustrates that the concept of superior intelligence is a dangerous fiction. It probes beyond the Myth of Rationality to an even more fundamental misconception: the belief in the Isolated Mind. Finally, this paper describes some of the tools in our Cognitive Toolkit. Unless we learn to use all our cognitive tools, we will remain victims of the Myth — symbolized by Ouroboros, the snake devouring its own tail.
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