Rationality vs. Practical

Rationality is a characteristic which human behaviour or human situations can have, and it normally refers to a means-ends relationship, in which there is a non-arbitrary relationship between a conscious purpose or goal and the means to achieve it. If the chosen means are indeed conducive to achieving the purpose or goal, they are judged rational, if not, they are judged irrational. Behaviour which is arbitrary or random is normally regarded as irrational. However, purposes and goals can themselves be judged rational or irrational, with reference to other relevant means-ends relationships. Consequently the rationality or irrationality of human actions may be highly controversial, because it involves assumptions about values. What seems rational from one point of view, may not be rational from another point of view. "Rational" is not necessarily the same as logical, because logic may be irrelevant to achieving a purpose or goal. Parts of human behavior are not rational when deductive reasoning is applied towards the action and the assumption about the reason for the action. For example, people have to sleep. However, they do not sleep for the effect, they sleep because they must. At best people are rational in consciously allocating sufficient time to sleep. This would be a desire to sleep for a positive outcome and therefore is a rational behavior.