Collective Rationality and Collective Reasoning
This book examines the issue of rational cooperation, especially cooperation between people with conflicting moral commitments. Can such cooperation--the choice made by a group and the decision by each member to contribute to that choice-- be understood as guided by reason? Can the activity of reasoning itself take a cooperative form? The book is distinctive in offering an account of what people can accomplish by reasoning together, of the role of deliberation in democratic decision making, and of the negotiation of the proper use of concepts.
- First philosophical analysis of the general problem of cooperation and collective reasoning
- Written in a lucid, economical style
- Potential for use as a coursebook
Reviews & endorsements
"...written in a beautifully lucid and economical style...tightly argued without being overly complicated by unnecessary detail. " E. J. Lowe, University of Durham
"...written in a beautifully lucid and economical style...tightly argued without being overly complicated by unnecessary detail. " E. J. Lowe, University of Durham
"Stimulating, original ... Its ideas could contribute to a wide range of shared philosophical reasoning." The Philosophical Review
Product details
August 2001Hardback
9780521804622
262 pages
236 × 158 × 23 mm
0.502kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. The reason to contribute
- 2. Cooperative structures
- 3. States and governments
- 4. Democracy
- 5. Collective reasoning
- 6. Overcoming malfunction
- 7. Reasoning to agreement
- 8. The rationality of collective reasoning.