Overview

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.  

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9780520380165

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Reviews

"""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 *"

"""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 *"

"""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 *"

"""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 *"

Author Information

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.

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