Ulysses and the Sirens: Studies in Rationality and Irrationality

by Jon Elster

This book was first published in 1984, as the revised edition of a 1979 original. The text is composed of studies in a descending sequence from perfect rationality, through imperfect and problematical rationality, to irrationality. Specifically human rationality is characterized by its capacity to relate strategically to the future, in contrast to the myopic 'gradient climbing' of natural selection. There is trenchant analysis of some of the parallels...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521269849
• ISBN13: 9780521269841
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"