ABSTRACT
Rational choice theory comprises three separate theories: decision theory, which is the theory of rationality. For agents facing an environment lacking in other rational agents, game theory, which is the theory of rationality for strategically interacting agents, and social choice theory, which is the theory of the rationality of collective choice. This chapter examines the lessons of feminism for all theory, and the feminist critiques of rational choice theory in particular, that are either explicitly given or implicit in the lessons. It provides the two interpretations of rational choice theory under which those lessons can be respected. The single most important conceptual contribution of feminism is the sex/gender distinction. Feminism has been in the forefront of a critique that has been simultaneously pursued by a variety of other philosophical movements and positions. Rational choice theory takes seriously the lessons of feminism, the sex/gender distinction and that the personal is political.
