Ulysses Unbound
Studies in Rationality, Precommitment, and Constraints

This provocative book argues that, very often, people may benefit from being constrained in their options or from being ignorant.

Jon Elster (Author)

9780521665612, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 March 2000

324 pages, 5 b/w illus. 4 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.431 kg

"All three sections of the book are rich in historical examples. Elster is very good at illustrating his points with concrete cases, at seeing connections among disparate fields, and at steering discussions in novel and very suggestive directions. ... Elster is at his best in raising interesting questions for further interdisciplinary research." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

Common sense suggests that it is always preferable to have more options than fewer, and better to have more knowledge than less. This provocative book argues that, very often, common sense fails. Sometimes it is simply the case that less is more; people may benefit from being constrained in their options or from being ignorant. The three long essays that constitute this book revise and expand the ideas developed in Jon Elster's classic study Ulysses and the Sirens. It is not simply a new edition of the earlier book, though; many of the issues merely touched on before are explored here in much more detail. Elster shows how seemingly disparate examples which limit freedom of action reveal similar patterns, so much so that he proposes a new field of study: constraint theory. The book is written in Elster's characteristically vivid style and will interest professionals and students in philosophy, political science, psychology, and economics.

Preface and acknowledgments
Part I. Ulysses Revisited: How and Why People Bind Themselves: 1. Introduction: Constraint theory
2. Passion as a reason for self-binding
3. Time-inconsistency and discounting
4. Time-inconsistency and strategic behavior
5. Passion as a device for self-binding
6. Variations on a Russian nobleman
7. Addiction and precommitment
8. Obstacles, objections and alternatives
Part II. Ulysses Unbound: Constitutions as Constraints: 9. Introduction
10. Disanalogies with individual precommitment
11. The nature and structure of constitutions
12. Constraints on constitution-making
13. Two levels of constitutional precommitment
14. Self-binding in Athenian politics
15. Interest and passion in Philadelphia and Paris
16. Time-inconsistency, discounting and delays
17. Omnipotence, strategic behavior and separation of powers
18. Efficiency
19. Obstacles and objections
20. Ulysses unbound
Part III. Less is More: Creativity and Constraints in the Arts: 21. Introduction
22. Daydreaming: creativity without constraints
23. Constraints and conventions in the arts
24. Constraints, value, and creativity
25. Originality, authenticity, and creativity
26. The Hays code
27. Lucien Leuwen as an empty set
28. Randomization in the arts
29. Creativity and constraints in jazz
30. Obstacles and objections
Coda
References.

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]