| Reason in Action Contributor(s): Hollis, Martin (Author) |
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ISBN: 052144263X ISBN-13: 9780521442633 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $114.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 1995 Annotation: Did Adam and Eve act rationally in eating the fruit of the forbidden tree? That can seem to depend solely on whether they had found the best means to their ends, in the spirit of the 'economic' theories of rationality. Martin Hollis respects the elegance and power of these theories but judges their paradoxes endemic. He argues that social action cannot be understood by viewing human beings as abstract individuals with preferences in search of satisfaction, nor by divorcing practical reason from questions of the rationality of norms, principles, practices and ends. These essays, focused on the themes of 'rational choice', 'roles and reason' and 'other cultures, other minds', make the point and explore alternative approaches. Culled in revised form from twenty-five years' work, they range across periods and disciplines with a philosophical imagination and vivid prose, which will engage philosophers and social scientists alike. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Methodology - Philosophy | Political |
| Dewey: 300.1 |
| LCCN: 95008138 |
| Physical Information: 0.81" H x 5.65" W x 8.79" (1.00 lbs) 296 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Did Adam and Eve act rationally in eating the fruit of the forbidden tree? That can seem to depend solely on whether they had found the best means to their ends, in the spirit of the economic theories of rationality. In these essays, culled in revised form from twenty-five years' work, Martin Hollis argues that social action cannot be understood by viewing human beings as abstract individuals with preferences in search of satisfaction, or by divorcing practical reason from questions of the rationality of norms, principles, practices and ends. |