The Greeks and the Rational: The Discovery of Practical Reason

The Greek discovery of practical reason, as the skilled performance of strategic thinking in public and private affairs, was an intellectual breakthrough that remains a feature of and a bug in our modern world. Josiah Ober's book explores how ancient Greek sophists, historians, and philosophers developed sophisticated and systematic ideas about practical reason, recognizing its limits.

Format: Hardback
Length: 488 pages
Publication date: 17 January 2023
Publisher: University of California Press

The Greek discovery of practical reason, as the skilled performance of strategic thinking in public and private affairs, marked an intellectual breakthrough that continues to shape our modern world. Contrary to arguments suggesting that rational choice-making is a contingent product of modernity, Josiah Ober's book, The Greeks and the Rational, traces the long history of theorizing rationality back to ancient Greece.

Within this comprehensive exploration, Ober delves into the profound insights of ancient Greek sophists, historians, and philosophers who developed sophisticated and systematic ideas about practical reason. At the same time, they acknowledged the limitations of this approach, recognizing that not every decision can be reduced to mechanistic calculations of optimal outcomes.

Ober's remarkable findings reveal contemporary echoes of this ancient 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 far-reaching implications for the study of ancient Greek civilization, the history of thought, and human rationality itself.

Weight: 771g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520380165