non-rational

Contrary to reason; lacking an appropriate or sufficient reason; irrational.

Indeed, the tirade against information in effect serves to justify the constriction of the area of rationality and scientific approach, in order to find room for all kinds of non-rational sources of "knowledge."

Lacking the ability to reason.

But what of non-rational beings—the animal or infant-man of attuition?

Not within the domain of what can be understood or analyzed by reason; outside the competence of the rules of reason.

In the total artistic process the two phases—rational and non-rational, planful and inspirational—may be successive or simultaneous.

Holton, a Harvard physicist and science historian, introduces us to the two extremist factions he sees attacking science from both sides: the "new Dionysians" who would widen the spectrum of scientific knowledge to include nonrational experience and the "new Apollonians" who would restrict scientific investigation to dealing only with those questions that seem to guarantee rational solution from the outset.

Not based on one's own interests; inconsistent with utility maximization.

In the nature of things there must be causes that explain why an industrial enterprise—mill, factory, foundry, dairy, refinery—is located at just this or that place, and not somewhere else. Some of these causes are non-rational, such as accident and caprice. . . . The remaining causes are rational and economic; that is, the selected locality is deemed to offer certain advantages in production or marketing.