Rationality and freedom / Amartya Sen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sen, Amartya, 1933-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social choice.

Rational choice theory.

Decision making.

Liberty.

Physical Description:

ix, 736 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.

Summary:

Rationality and freedom are among the most profound and contentious concepts in philosophy and the social sciences. This first of two volumes 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.

Contents:

1. Introduction: Rationality and Freedom 3

2. The Possibility of Social Choice 65

Part II Rationality: form and Substance

3. Internal Consistency of Choice 121

4. Maximization and the Act of Choice 158

5. Goals, Commitment, and Identity 206

6. Rationality and Uncertainty 225

7. Non-Binary Choice and Preference 245

Part III Rationality and Social Choice

8. Rationality and Social Choice 261

9. Individual Preference as the Basis of Social Choice 300

10. Social Choice and Justice 325

11. Information and Invariance in Normative Choice 349

Part IV Liberty and Social Choice

12. Liberty and Social Choice 381

13. Minimal Liberty 408

14. Rights: Formulation and Consequences 439

Part V Perspectives and Policies

15. Positional Objectivity 463

16. On the Darwinian View of Progress 484

17. Markets and Freedoms 501

18. Environmental Evaluation and Social Choice 531

19. The Discipline of Cost-Benefit Analysis 553

Part VI Freedom and Social Choice: The Arrow Lectures

20. Opportunities and Freedoms 583

21. Processes, Liberty and Rights 623

22. Freedom and the Evaluation of Opportunity 659.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0674009479

OCLC:

50035186