Ulises y las sirenas: Estudios sobre racionalidad e irracionalidad

by Jon Elster

Obra que intenta establecer un limite teorico entre la conducta racional y la conducta irracional, ya no tanto con base en el analisis de un modelo conceptual definido que contraponga ambas ideas, sino que por el contrario, reconozca la relacion estrecha que en los hechos de la vida cotidiana guardan ambos extremos.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Economics, Sociology, Science, Nonfiction

327 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 1979

About the author

Jon Elster ، born 22 February 1940, Oslo) is a Norwegian social and political theorist who has authored works in the philosophy of social science and rational choice theory. He is also a notable proponent of analytical Marxism, and a critic of neoclassical economics and public choice theory, largely on behavioral and psychological grounds.

In 2016, he was awarded the 22nd Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science for his contributions to political science.

Reviews

[Anthony Buckley]

I was a little disappointed with this book. It asks why people deliberately restrict their choices, binding themselves (like Ulysses resisting the lure of the Sirens)to prevent them doing what is in their own (or somebody's) best interests. Why, the author wonders,do people not simply do what they choose to do? It seemed like an interesting question, and a potent idea, but I felt the book rather petered out. I may return to it, however.

[Peter Merrill]

Gives a very good summary of the main topics related to rationality and when this concept (so used by economists) blurs and does not apply: individual rationality can lead to collective irrationality. Or the emotions (love and hate) can lead to contradictions.

[Will S]

The title essay is deservedly a classic, but I found the rest of the collection far inferior.