Dictionary

extrarational en · ADJ

Etymology

From extra- + rational.

Meanings

1. Above or beyond the rational.
   • Imagination is an extrarational function of the brain.
   • The importance of leadership, including its extrarational policymaking functions, is even now recognized in the more contemplative literature on social affairs and in much of the action-oriented literature on administration and management. 1983, Yehezkel Dror, Public Policy Making Reexamined, page 150:
   • No ethical norms, principles, precepts or theories can be referred solely to the transcendental side of theistic doctrine; for that would involve either crude anthropomorphism or the elevation of the ethical concepts into an extrarational sphere; a proceeding which would deprive them of human interest and ultimately weaken their obligation. 1916, Hugh Northcote, Christianity and Sex Problems, page 331:
   • But a rational faith in such an utter inconceivability is out of the question, and an extra-rational and mere dogmatic faith, in such an idea, can not generally, if ever, be kept free from superstition, and hence, from a greater or less degree of mental degradation and slavery. 1852, William Fishbough, The Macrocosm and Microcosm; Or the Universe Without and the Universe Within:

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