Reason in Human Affairs
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- Create Date：2021-09-21 06:55:26
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Herbert A. Simon
- ISBN：0804718482
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Summary
What can reason （or more broadly， thinking） do for us and what can't it do？ This is the question examined by the author， who received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering work on decision-making processes in economic organizations。"
Reviews
Caleb
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This book， the published version of a set of lectures originally given at Stanford， gives the reader a synthesis of Simon's varied insights。 I will first discuss several highlights of this short text before noting several limitations。 First the sketch of a "behavioral model of bounded rationality" （p。 19） in the first chapter， does an excellent job of explaining why rational choice theory is severely limited in its ability to explain the behavior of most decision makers most of the time。 Simon r This book， the published version of a set of lectures originally given at Stanford， gives the reader a synthesis of Simon's varied insights。 I will first discuss several highlights of this short text before noting several limitations。 First the sketch of a "behavioral model of bounded rationality" （p。 19） in the first chapter， does an excellent job of explaining why rational choice theory is severely limited in its ability to explain the behavior of most decision makers most of the time。 Simon rightly notes that human beings lack complete and consistent preferences， rarely understand more than a few of the available options， and in many cases cannot predict the outcomes of choices with any degree of reliability。 The behavioral model that Simon puts forth in the place of the rational choice model， we are all， of course， familiar with。 This is an approach where decisions are somewhat myopically focused on pressing problems， aiming to satisfice rather than optimize， to attain a sufficient outcome rather than the best possible outcome。 But Simon's claim that what facilitates this form of choice is the fact that most decision problems are disconnected from other decision problems， or 'nearly decomposable，' to use a term that Simon used on another occasion is particularly noteworthy。 It would be interesting to try to make this claim more rigorously in order to determine （a） to what extent it is true， （b） to what extent it is relative to one's intellectual and moral tradition（s）， and （c） whether and to what degree the extent of decomposability has changed throughout the course of history。The claims in chapter 2 concerning evolution are quite fascinating， with Simon becoming almost poetic at times。 The upshot of this discussion is that the evolutionary process is not capable of reaching a global optimum both because there are too many potential genetic combinations such that many will never be actualized and that the environment to which organisms adapt is itself changing since it is in large part constituted by other organisms。 The discussion of the evolutionary origins of altruism provides a nice introduction to topics often treated through the lens of evolutionary game theory though Simon's discussion is less than clear at one key point， which I will discuss at greater length below。 Simon rightly highlights the fact that altruists may have fitness advantages insofar as they are part of a group composed of altruists who prefer interacting with other altruists。 （This seems to be an accurate if only partial description of human life。） This point should go some way toward dispelling the facile claim that evolution obviously selects for egotism。 The final chapters discusses political institutions in the light of Simon's earlier claims about bounded rationality。 Discussing the problems of climate change and populism in 1983， Simon sounds like something of a prophet。 Unfortunately， this means that his insights have not been taken seriously。 These insights involve a recognition of the limitations of political institutions， limitations largely derived from human cognitive limitations; and a realization that despite these limitations these institutions accomplish very real objectives。 These insights should be obvious but they are all too easily forgotten。 One limitation of the text is Simon's trite acceptance of A。J。 Ayer's emotivism。 This is probably a text that he read while still a student but unfortunately Ayer's emotivism is no longer viable （see Peter Geach's critique）。 And not withstanding the existence of more sophisticated 'expressivist' versions of this position， it is unnecessary and adds nothing to his claims。 A second limitation concerns Simon's failure to distinguish between evolutionary altruism and psychological altruism。 The former involves fitness-reducing， other-directed behavior。 The latter concerns the agent's reasons for action， where an agent acts in order to benefit others。 This latter notion says nothing about fitness or the fitness implications of this behavior。 Simon conflates these notions and because of this he claims that organisms that engage in other-directed behavior that is fitness-enhancing， exercise enlightened self-interest。 But as this latter notion is normally used， it typically means something like engaging in cooperative behavior because it will be beneficial in the long-term。 But Simon had already shown that psychological altruism may be fitness enhancing when altruists are part of a group composed of altruists who prefer interacting with other altruists。 Thus， there is no need to to appeal self-interest， enlightened or otherwise to explain the fitness-enhancing nature of altruism under the conditions described。 This is a really thought-provoking text that should be read widely if only to remind of things that we have already learned from Simon in other contexts。 。。。more
Nick Geiser
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Great， short introduction to Simon's thought。 The third section is still highly relevant， if a little dated in particulars （such as the discussion of computers）。 Great， short introduction to Simon's thought。 The third section is still highly relevant， if a little dated in particulars （such as the discussion of computers）。 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Reason in Human Affairs
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Reason in Human Affairs&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft