180100 SE Practical Rationality (2020S)

For all of the deficiencies that have been revealed over the last decades, the economic model of human behaviour is still the most successful theory in the history of social science. It describes social phenomena as resulting from choice under restrictions. The three elements of the economic model of human behaviour answer the question of the identity of the chooser (individuals - methodological Individualism), the object of choice (theory of self-interest) and the way of choosing (rational choice theory).
This course focuses philosophically on the question of rational choice. After (1) an introduction and (2) a first overview over rational choice (J. Elster, The Nature and Scope of Rational Choice Explanations) we discuss (3) the assumption that all actions have reasons (R. Hursthouse, Arational Action), (4) the causal theory of action (Harry Frankfurt, The Problem of Action) and (5) the status of reasons as internal to the agent’s motivational set (B. Williams, Internal and External Reasons). We then turn to debates that are more specific to the philosophy of economics, such as (6, 7) the role of commitment in action (A. Sen, Rational Fools; B. Verbeek, Counter-Preferential Choice), (8) the (alleged) irrationality of frames (Kahnemann/Tversky), (9) The Problem of Cooperation (E. Anderson), (10) Team Thinking (R. Sugden), and (11) Gender and Rationality (K. Jones). This is followed by (12) a concluding discussion.