ABSTRACT

The concepts of rationality that are used by social scientists in the formation of hypotheses, models and explanations are explored in this collection of original papers by a number of distinguished philosophers and social scientists. The aim of the book is to display the variety of the concepts used, to show the different roles they play in theories of very different kinds over a wide range of disciplines, including economics, sociology, psychology, political science and anthropology, and to assess the explanatory and predictive power that a theory can draw from such concepts.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part |2 pages

Part One Rationality in belief

chapter 1|23 pages

Rationality in belief

chapter 3|33 pages

Social psychology's rational man

chapter |142 pages

(b) Technical notions of rational action

part |2 pages

Part Three Rational persons

chapter 12|33 pages

The development of reason

chapter 13|25 pages

Psychosis and irrationality

part |2 pages

Part Four Social rationality

chapter 14|25 pages

The rationality of societies

chapter 15|21 pages

Rational social choice