The Mystery of Rationality: Mind, Beliefs and the Social Sciences (Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis)

This book contributes to the developing dialogue between cognitive science and social sciences. It focuses on a central issue in both fields, i.e. the nature and the limitations of the rationality of beliefs and action. The development of cognitive science is one of the most important and fascinating intellectual advances of recent decades, and social scientists are paying increasing attention to the findings of this new branch of science that forces us to consider many classical issues related to epistemology and philosophy of action in a new light. Analysis of the concept of rationality is a leitmotiv in the history of the social sciences and has involved endless disputes. Since it is difficult to give a precise definition of this concept, and there is a lack of agreement about its meaning, it is possible to say that there is a 'mystery of rationality'. What is it to be rational? Is rationality merely instrumental or does it also involve the endorsement of values, i.e. the choice of goals? Should we consider rationality to be a normative principle or a descriptive one? Can rationality be only Cartesian or can it also be argumentative? Is rationality a conscious skill or a partly tacit one? This book, which has been written by an outstanding collection of authors, including both philosophers and social scientists, tries to make a useful contribution to the debates on these problems and shed some light on the mystery of rationality. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field. -- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction: Rationality as an Enigmatic Concept (Gérald Bronner, Francesco Di Iorio)....Pages 1-5 Our Agenda and Its Rationality (Joseph Agassi)....Pages 7-15 Intentional, Unintentional and Sub-intentional Aspects of Social Mechanisms and Rationality: The Example of Commitments in Political Life (Alban Bouvier)....Pages 17-35 On the Explanation of Human Action: “Good Reasons”, Critical Rationalism and Argumentation Theory (Enzo Di Nuoscio)....Pages 37-52 Rationality, Irrationality, Realism and the Good (Paul Dumouchel)....Pages 53-65 First Generation Behavioral Economists on Rationality, and Its Limits (Roger Frantz)....Pages 67-82 Embodied Rationality (Shaun Gallagher)....Pages 83-94 Rational Choice Explained and Defended (Herbert Gintis)....Pages 95-114 Rationality and Irrationality Revisited or Intellectualism Vindicated or How Stands the Problem of the Rationality of Magic? (Ian Jarvie)....Pages 115-129 Rational Life Plans? (Daniel Little)....Pages 131-145 Dynamics of Rationality and Dynamics of Emotions (Pierre Livet)....Pages 147-163 Pathologizing Ideology, Epistemic Modesty and Instrumental Rationality (Leslie Marsh)....Pages 165-190 Do the Social Sciences Need the Concept of “Rationality”? Notes on the Obsession with a Concept (Karl-Dieter Opp)....Pages 191-217 Rationality of the Individual and Rationality of the System: A Critical Examination of the Economic Calculation Problem Over Socialism (Ennio E. Piano, Peter J. Boettke)....Pages 219-237 Rationality and Interpretation in the Study of Social Interaction (Emmanuel Picavet)....Pages 239-259 This book contributes to the developing dialogue between cognitive science and social sciences. It focuses on a central issue in both fields, i.e. the nature and the limitations of the rationality of beliefs and action. The development of cognitive science is one of the most important and fascinating intellectual advances of recent decades, and social scientists are paying increasing attention to the findings of this new branch of science that forces us to consider many classical issues related to epistemology and philosophy of action in a new light. This book encourages scholars from different fields (philosophy, cognitive science, sociology, and economics) who are interested in the dialogue between cognitive science and social sciences, to develop and analyze new perspectives that allow us to elucidate the mystery of rationality. What is rationality? What are its limitations? What rationality assumptions must be used to study social and economic phenomena? The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field