This revisionist history traces an influential theory of practical reason from its origins in ancient Greece to its modern and contemporary permutations.
The Greek discovery of practical reason, as the skilled performance of strategic thinking in public and private affairs, was an intellectual breakthrough that remains both a feature and a bug of our modern world. Countering arguments that rational choice-making is a contingent product of modernity, The Greeks and the Rational traces the long history of theorizing rationality back to ancient Greece.
In this book, Josiah Ober explores how ancient Greek sophists, historians, and philosophers developed sophisticated and systematic ideas about practical reason. At the same time, they recognized its limits—that not every decision can be reduced to mechanistic calculations of optimal outcomes. We see contemporary echoes of this tradition in the application of game theory to political science, economics, and business management. The Greeks and the Rational offers a striking revisionist history with widespread implications for the study of ancient Greek civilization, the history of thought, and human rationality itself.
By:
Josiah Ober
Imprint: California Uni Pr Trade
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 76
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 36mm
Weight: 771g
ISBN: 9780520380165
ISBN 10: 0520380169
Series: Sather Classical Lectures
Pages: 488
Publication Date: 29 November 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Classical References Introduction: Discovering Practical Reason 1. Gyges’ Choice: Rationality and Visibility 2. Glaucon’s Dilemma: Origins of Social Order 3. Deioces’ Ultimatum: How to Choose a Ruler 4. Solon’s Bargain: Self-Enforcing Constitutional Order 5. Melos’ Prospect: Limits of Interstate Rationality 6. Socrates’ Critique: Problems for Democratic Rationality 7. Cephalus’ Expertise: Economic Rationality 8. Conclusions: Utility and Eudaimonia Epilogue Appendix: Probability, Risk, and Likelihood Works Cited Index
Josiah Ober is Mitsotakis Professor of Political Science and Classics at Stanford University and Senior Fellow (Courtesy) at the Hoover Institution. He is author or editor of eighteen books, including The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece and Demopolis: Democracy before Liberalism in Theory and Practice.
Reviews for The Greeks and the Rational: The Discovery of Practical Reason
"""Ober’s study should be praised for both its scope and its coherence. Indispensable for readers interested in how the Greeks conceived of practical reason and what Greek thought can offer modern cooperation efforts. Summing Up: Essential."" * Choice Reviews * ""The latest chapter in Ober’s influential reorientation of the study of ancient Greek political practice and written texts, which he has refashioned as a laboratory for studying social order and democratic possibilities. . . . [T]here is much to learn from this stimulating intertwining of ancient Greek texts and modern theoretical approaches in its light."" * The Times Literary Supplement * ""Apart from hopefully becoming a landmark publication and a source of inspiration for many classics scholars, ancient historians, philosophers, and other humanities scholars, this book promises to be an intriguing read for any political or social scientist working on game theory and rationality in theory and performance."" * Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics * ""The Greeks and the Rational is a Cyclopean work. It is massive and singularly focused."" * THE CLASSICAL REVIEW *"
