The Departmental Colloquium 
 Elijah Millgram

University of Utah 

Custom and Customization  'Normal' is not a statistical concept; from the point of view of someone trying to figure out what to do, it is an aesthetic assessment.  When restricted to the instrumental dimension of rationality, it contrasts with the overly roundabout ways of achieving an end represented by Rube Goldberg machines, and with the overly direct mobilization of whatever is to hand that made MacGyver a popular television series. Only in a human or artifactual environment in which others opt for normalcy in their instrumental deliberation are the defeasibility conditions of one's practical inferences intellectually tractable.  So a sense of what means are normal is a precondition of the possibility of practical reasoning.  Thus, in most circumstances, competence in practical deliberation presupposes command of a largely overlooked range of aesthetic sensibilities. 

 
  Tuesday, 25 June 2019 | 12:30-14:00  Room 2001, Rabin Building