The Nature of Rationality

by Robert Nozick

Overview

Repeatedly and successfully, the celebrated Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick has reached out to a broad audience beyond the confines of his discipline, addressing ethical and social problems that matter to every thoughtful person. Here Nozick continues his search for the connections between philosophy and "ordinary" experience. In the lively and accessible style that his readers have come to expect, he offers a bold theory of rationality, the one characteristic deemed to fix humanity's "specialness." What are principles for? asks Nozick. We could act simply on whim, or maximize our self-interest and recommend that others do the same. As Nozick explores rationality of decision and rationality of belief, he shows how principles actually function in our day-to-day thinking and in our efforts to live peacefully and productively with each other.


Throughout, the book combines daring speculations with detailed investigations to portray the nature and status of rationality and the essential role that imagination plays in this singular human aptitude.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400820832
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/29/1994
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	242
File size:	390 KB

About the Author

Robert Nozick (1938–2002) was the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. Among his works are Philosophical Explanations and The Examined Life. His Anarchy, State, and Utopia won the National Book Award in 1975.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
I How to Do Things with Principles 3
Intellectual Functions 3
Interpersonal Functions 9
Personal Functions 12
Overcoming Temptation 14
Sunk Costs 21
Symbolic Utility 26
Teleological Devices 35
II Decision-Value 41
Newcomb's Problem 41
Prisoner's Dilemma 50
Finer Distinctions: Consequences and Goals 59
III Rational Belief 64
Cognitive Goals 67
Responsiveness to Reasons 71
Rules of Rationality 75
Belief 93
Bias 100
IV Evolutionary Reasons 107
Reasons and Facts 107
Fitness and Function 114
Rationality's Function 119
V Instrumental Rationality and Its Limits 133
Is Instrumental Rationality Enough? 133
Rational Preferences 139
Testability, Interpretation, and Conditionalization 151
Philosophical Heuristics 163
Rationality's Imagination 172
Notes 183
Subject Index 219
Index of Names 224

Editorial Reviews

To Harvard philosophy professor Nozick, rationality and belief are each an evolutionary adaptation to a world that changes in nonregular ways. Our acts resonate with symbolic meanings and ``stand for'' our principles and beliefs. In this boldly original, technical inquiry which will reward serious students of philosophy, Nozick uses decision theory to propose new rules of rational decision-making that take into account the symbolic, practical and evolutionary components of our behavior. He considers bias, the role of imagination, rational social cooperation and how society's decision-making results in incremental or sweeping institutional changes. This challenging treatise champions reason as a faculty that enables us to transcend our mere animal status and to strive toward goals by the light of principles. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Nozick is best known to the general public as the author of Anarchy, State and Utopia (BasicBks: HarperCollins, 1977), a work of political philosophy. He began his philosophical career, however, as a specialist in decision theory. Now he returns to his early field, suggesting a new approach that involves weighing conflicting accounts of rationality rather than choosing one account exclusively. Then he applies his approach to several unsolved problems. Contrary to most economists, he contends that it is often rational to take sunk costs into account; and he introduces a new category, symbolic utility, into decision theory. Nozick also innovatively addresses rationality of belief. He offers an evolutionary account of how the world shapes our beliefs and argues that goals can be evaluated by noninstrumental standards. This brilliant and intricately argued work is filled with original ideas. Despite some of the technical material, most of it is within the grasp of interested lay readers. Highly recommended.-- David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ . , Ohio

Library Journal

"From Mr. Nozick you always expect fireworks. . . . The questions he addresses are fundamental in the true philosophical sense: Why exactly should we want to act and believe rationally?"

The New York Times Book Review

"Robert Nozick's brief, vivid, energetic, intensely personal and enviably clever book attacks head-on the question of what rationality really is."—-John Dunn, The Times Higher Education Supplement

"Robert Nozick always attacks his problems in a disconcertingly original way. . . . From Mr. Nozick you always expect fireworks. . . . The questions he addresses are fundamental in the true philosophical sense: Why exactly should we want to act and believe rationally? Why should we formulate principles of action and try to stick to them? The questions are not moral but explicatory. He is not out to argue that unprincipled or irrational behavior is immoral; rather, he invites us to consider what we are trying to do, and what the justification for such behavior is. . . . Sure to attract a great deal of interest."—-Anthony Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

Robert Nozick always attacks his problems in a disconcertingly original way. . . . From Mr. Nozick you always expect fireworks. . . . The questions he addresses are fundamental in the true philosophical sense: Why exactly should we want to act and believe rationally? Why should we formulate principles of action and try to stick to them? The questions are not moral but explicatory. He is not out to argue that unprincipled or irrational behavior is immoral; rather, he invites us to consider what we are trying to do, and what the justification for such behavior is. . . . Sure to attract a great deal of interest.

The New York Times Book Review - Anthony Gottlieb

Robert Nozick's brief, vivid, energetic, intensely personal and enviably clever book attacks head-on the question of what rationality really is.

The Times Higher Education Supplement - John Dunn

Robert Nozick's brief, vivid, energetic, intensely personal and enviably clever book attacks head-on the question of what rationality really is.
— John Dunn

The Times Higher Education Supplement