Study Guide: Concept 8 — No Instant Rationality

Core Concept

Appraisal ≠ advice. The score is objective but announced in retrospect; staying with a degenerating programme or gambling on an immature one can both be rational. The only sin: denying the public record.

Key Terms

Instant rationality (myth) · hindsight crowning · rational disagreement · honest scorekeeping

Case Summary

Michelson–Morley 1887: decades as a mere anomaly, crowned "crucial" only after Einstein's programme progressed. The caption came a quarter-century after the experiment.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Reclassify one real-time "verdict" you've issued as the bet it was
• [ ] State aloud which of your positions is a defended gamble, with its score
• [ ] Define what honest score would flip your biggest professional bet

Self-Test

1. Why can't the methodology dictate the moment to abandon a programme?
2. Feyerabend's objection — and Lakatos's reply?
3. Where's the line between rational persistence and book-cooking?