Rationality and Freedom

Couverture
Harvard University Press, 2002 - 736 pages

Rationality and freedom are among the most profound and contentious concepts in philosophy and the social sciences. In two volumes on rationality, freedom, and justice, the distinguished economist and philosopher Amartya Sen brings clarity and insight to these difficult issues. This volume--the first of the two--is principally concerned with rationality and freedom.

Sen scrutinizes and departs from the standard criteria of rationality, and shows how it can be seen in terms of subjecting one's values as well as choices to the demands of reason and critical scrutiny. This capacious approach is utilized to illuminate the demands of rationality in individual choice (including decisions under uncertainty) as well as social choice (including cost benefit analysis and environmental assessment).

Identifying a reciprocity in the relationship between rationality and freedom, Sen argues that freedom cannot be assessed independently of a person's reasoned preferences and valuations, just as rationality, in turn, requires freedom of thought. Sen uses the discipline of social choice theory (a subject he has helped to develop) to illuminate the demands of reason and the assessment of freedom. The latter is the subject matter of Sen's previously unpublished Arrow Lectures included here.

The essays in these volumes contribute to Sen's ongoing transformation of economic theory and social philosophy, and to our understanding of the connections among rationality, freedom, and social justice.

 

Table des matières

Introduction Rationality and Freedom
3
The Possibility of Social Choice
65
RATIONALITY FORM AND SUBSTANCE
119
Internal Consistency of Choice
121
Maximization and the Act of Choice
158
Goals Commitment and Identity
206
Rationality and Uncertainty
225
NonBinary Choice and Preference
245
Rights Formulation and Consequences
439
PERSPECTIVES AND POLICIES
461
Positional Objectivity
463
On the Darwinian View of Progress
484
Markets and Freedoms
501
Environmental Evaluation and Social Choice
531
The Discipline of CostBenefit Analysis
553
FREEDOM AND SOCIAL CHOICE THE ARROW LECTURES
579

RATIONALITY AND SOCIAL CHOICE
259
Rationality and Social Choice
261
Individual Preference as the Basis of Social Choice
300
Social Choice and Justice
325
Information and Invariance in Normative Choice
349
LIBERTY AND SOCIAL CHOICE
379
Liberty and Social Choice
381
Minimal Liberty
408
Introductory Remarks
581
Opportunities and Freedoms
583
Processes Liberty and Rights
623
Freedom and the Evaluation of Opportunity
659
Name Index
713
Subject Index
731
Droits d'auteur

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Expressions et termes fréquents

À propos de l'auteur (2002)

Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor at Harvard University.

Informations bibliographiques