[Zoot]

Aversion to a spider can be rational or irrational only in so far as one is judging the consistency of the aversion with the values to which it refers. For example, I am afraid of poisonous spiders because I have an aversion to pain. That is a reasonable application of aversion to pain to a particular instance of something that could cause me pain.

If I am afraid of all spiders because I am under the impression that they all have the capacity to cause me pain, that too is rational, though operating on mistaken information regarding the nature of the spiders.

If I am afraid of a poisonous spider in a glass cage, one that I perceive is incapable of causing me pain, that is irrational, because it is not a consistent application of the value to the situation.

However, all of these instances are rational or irrational in terms of their consistency with the value to which they refer - the aversion to pain. The aversion to pain itself, however, cannot be evaluated as rational or irrational. Applications of values can be rational or irrational, but values themselves cannot.