Rationality In Action

Author : John R. Searle
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262250610
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rationality in Action written by John R. Searle and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-01-24 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of rationality and practical reason, or rationality in action, has been central to Western intellectual culture. In this invigorating book, John Searle lays out six claims of what he calls the Classical Model of rationality and shows why they are false. He then presents an alternative theory of the role of rationality in thought and action. A central point of Searle's theory is that only irrational actions are directly caused by beliefs and desires—for example, the actions of a person in the grip of an obsession or addiction. In most cases of rational action, there is a gap between the motivating desire and the actual decision making. The traditional name for this gap is "freedom of the will." According to Searle, all rational activity presupposes free will. For rationality is possible only where one has a choice among various rational as well as irrational options. Unlike many philosophical tracts, Rationality in Action invites the reader to apply the author's ideas to everyday life. Searle shows, for example, that contrary to the traditional philosophical view, weakness of will is very common. He also points out the absurdity of the claim that rational decision making always starts from a consistent set of desires. Rational decision making, he argues, is often about choosing between conflicting reasons for action. In fact, humans are distinguished by their ability to be rationally motivated by desire-independent reasons for action. Extending his theory of rationality to the self, Searle shows how rational deliberation presupposes an irreducible notion of the self. He also reveals the idea of free will to be essentially a thesis of how the brain works.

Author : Paul K. Moser
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521385985
Total Pages : 508 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rationality in Action written by Paul K. Moser and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1990-10-26 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of previously published pieces that have proven long term importance to theoretical work in rational action.

Author : Joshua Gert
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139454153
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Brute Rationality written by Joshua Gert and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-08-19 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an account of normative practical reasons and the way in which they contribute to the rationality of action. Rather than simply 'counting in favour of' actions, normative reasons play two logically distinct roles: requiring action and justifying action. The distinction between these two roles explains why some reasons do not seem relevant to the rational status of an action unless the agent cares about them, while other reasons retain all their force regardless of the agent's attitude. It also explains why the class of rationally permissible action is wide enough to contain not only all morally required action, but also much selfish and immoral action. The book will appeal to a range of readers interested in practical reason in particular, and moral theory more generally.

Author : Sergio Tenenbaum
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192592262
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rational Powers in Action written by Sergio Tenenbaum and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-05 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human actions unfold over time, in pursuit of ends that are not fully specified in advance. Rational Powers in Action locates these features of the human condition at the heart of a new theory of instrumental rationality. Where many theories of rational agency focus on instantaneous choices between sharply defined outcomes, treating the temporally extended and partially open-ended character of action as an afterthought, this book argues that the deep structure of instrumental rationality can only be understood if we see how it governs the pursuit of long-term, indeterminate ends. These are ends that cannot be realized through a single momentary action, and whose content leaves partly open what counts as realizing the end. Sergio Tenenbaum argues that we need to focus on temporal duration and the indeterminacy of ends in intentional action, even to explain the rational governance of relatively simple actions. Theories of moment-by-moment preference maximization, or indeed any understanding of instrumental rationality on the basis of momentary mental items, cannot capture the fundamental structure of our instrumentally rational capacities. Tenenbaum provides a new theory of instrumental rationality as rationality in action.

Author : Carlo C. Jaeger
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134203020
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Risk, Uncertainty and Rational Action written by Carlo C. Jaeger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Risk as we now know it is a wholly new phenomenon, the by-product of our ever more complex and powerful technologies. In business, policy making, and in everyday life, it demands a new way of looking at technological and environmental uncertainty. In this definitive volume, four of the world's leading risk researchers present a fundamental critique of the prevailing approaches to understanding and managing risk - the 'rational actor paradigm'. They show how risk studies must incorporate the competing interests, values, and rationalities of those involved and find a balance of trust and acceptable risk. Their work points to a comprehensive and significant new theory of risk and uncertainty and of the decision making process they require. The implications for social, political, and environmental theory and practice are enormous. Winner of the 2000-2002 Outstanding Publication Award of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association

Author : Joseph Heath
Publisher : MIT Press (MA)
ISBN 13 : 9780262275156
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Communicative Action and Rational Choice written by Joseph Heath and published by MIT Press (MA). This book was released on 2003 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brings Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action into dialogue with the most sophisticated articulation of the instrumental conception of practical rationality-modern rational choice theory.

Author : Warren Quinn
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521446969
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Morality and Action written by Warren Quinn and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection contains Warren Quinn's most important contributions to moral philosophy and has been edited for publication by Philippa Foot.

Author : Carol A. Heimer
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520318463
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Reactive Risk and Rational Action written by Carol A. Heimer and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-04-28 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1985.

Author : Lennart Nordenfelt
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199214859
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rationality and Compulsion written by Lennart Nordenfelt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-26 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a unique examination of mental illness. Though common to many mental disorders, delusions result in actions that, though perhaps rational to the individual, might seem entirely inappropriate or harmful to others. This book shows how we may better understand delusion by examining the nature of compulsion.

Author : Carla Bagnoli
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429535481
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time in Action written by Carla Bagnoli and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-24 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the role of time in rational agency and practical reasoning. Agents are finite and often operate under severe time constraints. Action takes time and unfolds in time. While time is an ineliminable constituent of our experience of agency, it is both a theoretical and a practical problem to explain whether and how time shapes rational agency and practical thought. The essays in this book are divided into three parts. Part I is devoted to the temporal structure of action and agency, from metaphysical and metaethical perspectives. Part II features essays about the temporal structure of rational deliberation, from the perspective of action theory and theories of practical reasoning. Part III includes essays about the temporal aspects of failures of rationality. Taken together, the essays in this book shed new light on our understanding of the temporality of agency that coheres with our subjective sense of finitude and explains rational agency both in time and over time. Time in Action will be of interest to advanced students and researchers working on the philosophy of time, metaphysics of action, action theory, practical reasoning, ethical theory, moral psychology, and rational justification.