Tracing practical reason from its origins to its modern and contemporary permutations

The Greek discovery of practical reason, as the skilled performance of strategic thinking in public and private affairs, was an intellectual breakthrough that remains both a feature of and a bug in our modern world. Countering arguments that rational choice-making is a contingent product of modernity, The Greeks and the Rational traces the long history of theorizing rationality back to ancient Greece.

In this book, Josiah Ober explores how ancient Greek sophists, historians, and philosophers developed sophisticated and systematic ideas about practical reason. At the same time, they recognized its limits—that not every decision can be reduced to mechanistic calculations of optimal outcomes. Ober finds contemporary echoes of this 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 widespread implications for the study of ancient Greek civilization, the history of thought, and human rationality itself.

About the Author

Josiah Ober is Mitsotakis Professor of Political Science and Classics at Stanford University and Senior Fellow (Courtesy) at the Hoover Institution. He is author or editor of eighteen books, including The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece and Demopolis: Democracy before Liberalism in Theory and Practice.

From Our Blog

Greek Games: How Ancient Greek Philosophy Humanizes Rational Choice Theory

By Josiah Ober, author of The Greeks and the Rational: The Discovery of Practical ReasonIn 1949, E.R. Dodds gave the Sather Classical Lectures and soon thereafter published a hugely influential book, The Greeks and the Irrational. When invited to give the 2019 Sather Lectures, I honored his 70th

Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Classical References

Introduction: Discovering Practical Reason

1. Gyges’ Choice: Rationality and Visibility

2. Glaucon’s Dilemma: Origins of Social Order

3. Deioces’ Ultimatum: How to Choose a Ruler

4. Solon’s Bargain: Self-Enforcing Constitutional Order

5. Melos’ Prospect: Limits of Interstate Rationality

6. Socrates’ Critique: Problems for Democratic Rationality

7. Cephalus’ Expertise: Economic Rationality

8. Conclusions: Utility and Eudaimonia

Epilogue

Appendix: Probability, Risk, and Likelihood
Works Cited
Index

Reviews

"Ober’s study should be praised for both its scope and its coherence. Indispensable for readers interested in how the Greeks conceived of practical reason and what Greek thought can offer modern cooperation efforts. Summing Up: Essential."

— Choice Reviews

"Apart from hopefully becoming a landmark publication and a source of inspiration for many classics scholars, ancient historians, philosophers, and other humanities scholars, this book promises to be an intriguing read for any political or social scientist working on game theory and rationality in theory and performance."

— Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics

"The Greeks and the Rational is a Cyclopean work. It is massive and singularly focused."
— THE CLASSICAL REVIEW

“With tremendous generosity and vision, The Greeks and the Rational reaches out to game theory and serves as a model of scholarship that allows us to recognize each other, across disciplines and centuries. Once in a while we need a book like this to remind us how our urge to understand and theorize society is a deep and fundamental one shared across time.”—Michael Chwe, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles

"Subtle and compelling in its argumentation, astonishing in its range, and ambitious in its aims, The Greeks and the Rational will be essential reading for Greek intellectual historians, students of ancient philosophy, and modern political theorists alike."—Emily Mackil, Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley

"A rigorous, passionate book. Ober uses game theory to produce powerful new readings of major authors such as Plato and Herodotus. The payoff is inspiring for classicists, social scientists, and citizens who want to make just societies out of self-interested decision-makers."—John Ma, Professor of Classics, Columbia University

"With grace, depth, and sophistication, Ober offers profound and sophisticated insight into the enduring philosophical question of the relationship between instrumental rationality and eudaimonia, or the flourishing of all."—Margaret Levi, Sara Miller McCune Director of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University

Media

Watch Josiah Ober's Book Talk on The Greek Discovery of Practical Reason

About the Book

About the Author

From Our Blog

Greek Games: How Ancient Greek Philosophy Humanizes Rational Choice Theory

Table of Contents

Reviews

Media