Rationality and Commitment

Rational choice theory forms the core of the economic approach to humanbehaviour. It is also the most influential philosophical account of practicalrationality. Yet there are persistent controversies about the scope of rationalchoice theory in philosophy and, increasingly, in economics as well. A leadingcritic is the philosopher and Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen, who putforward a trenchant critique of rational choice theory in his seminal paper'Rational Fools'. Sen emphasizes the importance of commitment - those aspects ofhuman behavior which dispose individuals to co-operate, follow norms, andidentify with others. He argues that rational choice theory cannot accommodatecommitment, and demands a more adequate account of rationality.The question of how to account for the rationality of commitment is very much anopen issue and, if anything, even more pressing today than when Sen first raisedit. In Rationality and Commitment, thirteen leading philosophers and economistsdiscuss Sen's claims and propose their own answers to the question of how toaccount for the rationality of committed action. The volume concludes with aspecially-written reply by Sen, in which he responds to his critics and providesa rich commentary on the preceding essays.