The Greeks and the Rational: The Discovery of Practical Reason

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Classical References
Introduction: Discovering Practical Reason
	0.1 Theorizing Rationality
	0.2 Socrates on Choice and Action
	0.3 Rationality Ancient and Modern
	0.4 Folk Theory Variations
	0.5 Literature Review: Rational and Irrational Greeks
	0.6 Outline of the Book
1. Gyges’ Choice: Rationality and Visibility
	1.1 The Chosen Path: Glaucon’s Thought Experiment
	1.2 The Story of Gyges’ Ring
	1.3 Plato on Rationality of Means and Ends
	1.4 Gyges’ Ring Decision Tree
	1.5 The Illustrative Value of Simplification
	1.6 Herodotus’ Gyges Narrative
	1.7 Gyges, the Queen, and Kandaules, Two- and Three-Player Games
	1.8 Kandaules’ Choice: Preference Strength and Likely Outcomes
	1.9 Oracular Information and Choice
2. Glaucon’s Dilemma: Origins of Social Order
	2.1 Social Order as a Problem
	2.2 Strategic Games
	2.3 Repeated Games and Social Development
	2.4 Commitment Problems
	2.5 From Primitive Anarchy to Social Order
	2.6 Plato’s Protagoras on Order and Motivation
	2.7 Learning, Punishment, and Population Dynamics
	2.8 The Limits of Egoistic Self-Interest
3. Deioces’ Ultimatum: How to Choose a Ruler
	3.1 Towards Constitutionalism in Plato’s Republic: First Polis and Guardians
	3.2 Herodotus on the Reestablishment of Tyranny among the Medes
	3.3 Deioces and the Medes: An Ultimatum Game
	3.4 Choosing a Constitution for Persia
	3.5 Herodotus’ Implicit Social Choice Problem
	3.6 Limits on Royal Authority
	3.7 Polybius on Primitive Despotism and Moral Sentiments
	3.8 The Transition from Despotism to Kingship
4. Solon’s Bargain: Self-Enforcing Constitutional Order
	4.1 Greek Theorists of the State
	4.2 The Solon Tradition
	4.3 A Bargaining Solution to an Athenian Social Crisis
	4.4 Solon’s Arbitration as a Full-Value Solution
	4.5 Cleisthenes’ Wager: Rational Revolution
	4.6 After the Revolution: Rational Leaders?
5. Melos’ Prospect: Limits of Interstate Rationality
	5.1 War and Risk in Plato’s Republic
	5.2 Thucydides on Power, Risk, and State-Level Rationality
	5.3 Roving and Stationary Bandits
	5.4 Justifying Empire
	5.5 Empire-Subject Game
	5.6 Mytilene Resists and Fails
	5.7 Melos’ Prospect
6. Socrates’ Critique: Problems for Democratic Rationality
	6.1 Callipolis and Its Successors
	6.2 Socrates’ Critique of Democracy
	6.3 Democracy and State Performance
	6.4 Questions for Athens’ Politeia
	6.5 Democracy and Experts
	6.6 Legislation
	6.7 Law and Courts
	6.8 Individuals and Officials, Initiative and Execution
	6.9 Adaptive Rationality
7. Cephalus’ Expertise: Economic Rationality
	7.1 Prosperity and Economic Thought
	7.2 At Home with the Money-Makers
	7.3 Homeric Economics: Agamemnon’s Cluelessness
	7.4 Socratic Philosophy, M. I. Finley, and “The Ancient Economy\"
	7.5 Xenophon on Managing Households and States
	7.6 Plato the Economist: The First Polis of Republic Book 2
	7.7 Economic Rationality in Aristotle’s Politics
	7.8 Nature and Necessity
8. Conclusions: Utility and Eudaimonia
	8.1 Retrospect
	8.2 Aeschylus’ Furies: From Automata to Rational Agents
	8.3 Apollo Discovers Practical Reason
	8.4 Instrumentalism as a Threat I: Mendacity and Vicious Egoism
	8.5 Instrumentalism as a Threat II: Mixing Up and Crowding Out
	8.6 Instrumentalism and the Task of Classical Political Philosophy
	8.7 Back to the Future of Classics and Political Theory
Epilogue
Appendix: Probability, Risk, and Likelihood
Works Cited
Index