Rational Action

This volume is concerned with the concepts of rationality, belief and desire in the explanation and evaluation of human action.

T. R. Harrison (Author)

9780521143738, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 June 2010

190 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.44 kg

This volume is concerned with the concept of rationality and the interrelations between rationality, belief and desire in the explanation and evaluation of human action. The book is conceived and structured to represent some of the most important general differences of approach to these problems, and also to connect them with problems about the relation of individual to social behaviour which are of central interest to historians, social theorists and economists as well as to philosophers. The essays have all been commissioned for this volume and have not appeared elsewhere. The idea for the book arose from the meetings of philosophers and social scientists sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation, and is therefore a continuation of the informal series begun by C. Hookway and P. Pettit (eds.) Action and Interpretation (C. U. P. 1978).

Contributors
Introduction
1. Rational man and social science Martin Hollis
2. Internal and external reasons Bernard Williams
3. Ethical consistency Ross Harrison
4. Wish-fulfilment Richard Wollheim
5. Holistic explanation: an outline of a theory Christopher Peacocke
6. Rational actors in macrosociological analysis James Coleman
7. Rational choice and political principles Albert Weale
8. Informational analysis of moral principles Amartya Sen
9. Reflections on the state of nature J. E. J. Altham
10. Is there a free-rider problem, and if so, what is it? Richard Tuck
11. Contract, coercion, and consciousness John Maguire
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]