Reason and Rationality

One of the worlds most important political philosophers Jon Elster is aleading thinker on reason and rationality and their roles in politics andpublic life. In ... » 

One of the worlds most important political philosophers Jon Elster is aleading thinker on reason and rationality and their roles in politics andpublic life. In this short book he crystallizes and advances his workbridging the gap between philosophers who use the idea of reason to assesshuman behavior from a normative point of view and social scientists who use theidea of rationality to explain behavior. In place of these approaches Elsterproposes a unified conceptual framework for the study of behavior. Drawing onclassical moralists as well as modern scholarship and using a wealth ofhistorical and contemporary illustrations Reason and Rationality marks a newdevelopment in Elsters thinking while at the same time providing a briefelegant and accessible introduction to his work. «