- Nevertheless it is, as its form and intent, quasirational or protorational
Protorational
noun; compounding
A primitive, first resemblance of something rational. Guy Claxton uses the word protorational here, as he used quasirational, to show that the idea is not yet a rational one because it was only a ‘first-draft,’ prototypical idea – implying that with some work, further thought, and revision, it can be made into a truly rational (would he say eurational ?) idea. The compounding flows naturally, despite the Greek prefix proto- and the Latin root morpheme rational.
Etymology : proto- + rational. Proto-, from Greek proto-, combining form of protos ‘first,’ superlative of pro ‘before.’ Rational, from Latin rationalis ‘of or belonging to reason, reasonable,’ from ratio ‘reckoning, calculation, reason,’ from rat-, past participle stem of reri ‘to reckon, calculate, think,’ from PIE *rei- ‘to reason, count’
Source : Guy Claxton’s Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, p7
Last modified: 10 June 2008