Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Overview
- 2 Group Rationality: A Unique Problem
- 3 The Problem Explored: Sen's Way
- 4 The Skeptical View
- 5 The Subjectivist View I
- 6 The Subjectivist View II
- 7 The Objectivist View
- 8 Putnam, Individual Rationality, and Peirce's Puzzle
- 9 The Nine Problems
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
3 - The Problem Explored: Sen's Way
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Overview
- 2 Group Rationality: A Unique Problem
- 3 The Problem Explored: Sen's Way
- 4 The Skeptical View
- 5 The Subjectivist View I
- 6 The Subjectivist View II
- 7 The Objectivist View
- 8 Putnam, Individual Rationality, and Peirce's Puzzle
- 9 The Nine Problems
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Let me here weave in some of the powerful ideas of Amartya Kumar Sen. Among his works I have principally relied on are Rationality and Freedom (2002), The Standard of Living (1988), On Ethics and Economics (1987), and Utilitarianism and Beyond (1982). One cannot map a hectare, a reader might think, by squinting at an acre; and he would be right. As it is, the task I set myself is considerably more modest. I am not even attempting an analysis of a few key notions in Sen's philosophy, let alone undertaking to provide a large-scale, systematic account of his dominant views. Rather, I am more interested in an eclectic reading of some of his notions – with a certain sense of adventure, I admit – to see if anything might emerge that will be of interest to those of us working on the problem of group rationality. If I have succeeded, then perhaps Sen might also be read for reasons other than those for which he is so widely read.
Providing, then, only the barest outline of some of Sen's key notions and arguments, and duly adapting them, I sketch a set of issues relating to the problem of group rationality. My hope is not only to unravel something intriguing about the realm of group rationality; it is also to show how some of the concerns in this realm may well diverge from those in welfare economics, their several and useful parallels in other respects notwithstanding.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Group Rationality in Scientific Research , pp. 47 - 68Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007