non-rationaladj.n.

1859 P. Fairburn Hermeneutical Man. 133 Might we not, on the same ground that is assigned here for the non-rational character of Old Testament worship, also deny rationality to the New?

a1871 G. Grote Fragm. Ethical Subj. (1876) v. 183 Aristotle classifies the phenomena of..the non-rational soul into three.

1896 W. Caldwell Schopenhauer's Syst. i. 16 His experience of life was such as to bring the non-rational side of things prominently before his mind.

1925 J. E. Turner Theory Direct Realism 25 It is not surprising..that this attitude..should be regarded as instinctive non-rational, and alogical.

1957 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation iii. 52 Mythical thought, which is basically non-rational.

1995 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 10 Aug. 54/4 The nonrational conduct of men under fire.

1893 Philos. Rev. 2 346 He treated the so-called alogistic, or non-rational, part of the soul not as anything positive in itself, but as merely negative reason.

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience iii. 74 I do not yet say that it is better that the subconscious and non-rational should thus hold primacy in the religious realm.

1972 Listener 21 Dec. 854/2 Reliance on the non-rational means that courses of action are followed without regard for their long-term consequences.

1988 M. Whitford & M. Griffiths Feminist Perspectives in Philos. Introd. 17 An alternative model for the relation between the rational and the non-rational which would be more satisfactory than the dominant paradigm.