The politics of rationality : reason through Occidental history / Charles P. Webel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Webel, Charles, author.

Series:

Routledge studies in social and political thought ; 87.

Routledge studies in social and political thought ; 87

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Practical reason.

Reason.

Physical Description:

227 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2014.

Summary:

"What are reason and rationality? How significant are recent postmodernist and neuroscientific challenges to these long held notions? Should we abandon a belief in reason and an adherence to rationality? Or can reason and rationality be reformulated and reframed? And what does politics have to do with how we think about reason and why we act more or less rationally?The Politics of Rationality differs from other books with "reason" or "rationality" due to its historical, political, depth-psychological, and multidisciplinary approach to understanding reason through history. Charles P. Webel eloquently clarifies the links among ideas, their creators, the relevant mental processes, and the political cultures within which such important concepts as reasons and rationality take hold. He demonstrates how reason and rationality/irrationality have become what they mean for us today and proposes a way to rethink reason and rationality in light of the withering critiques leveled against them. In doing so, he presents a "history of reason and rationality" by examining the intellectual and political contexts of five representative theorists of reason and rationality-- Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Weber, and Habermas -- and by addressing contemporary challenges posed by postmodernism, depth psychology, and neurophilosophy"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415704182

0415704189

OCLC:

852219382