You might also like

More about Reason in Action

• Book details
• Synopsis
• Trending among others

You get 292 loyalty points

Book synopsis

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 this 1995 book, 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 reasons' and 'other cultures, other minds', make the point and explore alternative approaches. Culled in revised form from twenty-five years' work, the essays range across periods and disciplines with a philosophical imagination and vivid prose, which will engage philosophers and social scientists alike.

Book details

Book category Books in English Society & social sciences Sociology & anthropology Sociology

• Full title: Reason in Action
• Subtitle: Essays in the Philosophy of Social Science
• Author: Martin Hollis
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardback
• Number of pages: 296
• EAN: 9780521442633
• ISBN: 052144263X
• ID: 02031035
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Weight: 464 g
• Dimensions: 216 × 140 × 21 mm
• Date of publishing: 07. December 1995

Trending among others

---

---

---