Rationality in the Social Sciences: The Schumpeter-Parsons Seminar 1939-40 and Current Perspectives

Description

This volume presents for the first time a collection of historically important papers written on the concept of rationality in the social sciences. In 1939-40, the famed Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter and the famous sociologist Talcott Parsons convened a faculty seminar at Harvard University on the topic of rationality. The first part includes their essays as well as papers by the Austrian phenomenologist Alfred Schütz, the sociologist Wilbert Moore, and the economist Rainer Schickele. Several younger economists and sociologists with bright futures also participated, including Alex Gerschenkron, John Dunlop, Paul M. Sweezy, and Wassily W. Leontief, who was later awarded the Nobel Prize for developing input-output analysis. The second part presents essays and commentaries written by today’s internationally noted social scientists and addressing the topic of rationality in social action from a broad range of perspectives. The book’s third and final part shares the recently discovered correspondence between the seminar principals regarding the original but failed plan to publish its proceedings. It also includes letters, not previously published, between Richard Grathoff, Walter M. Sprondel and Talcott Parsons on the rationality seminar and the exchanges between Parsons and Schütz. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Editors’ Introduction: The Harvard Rationality Seminar (Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 1-25 Front Matter ....Pages 27-27 The Meaning of Rationality in the Social Sciences (Joseph A. Schumpeter, Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 29-46 Discussions on the Meaning of Rationality in Action (Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 47-51 An Approach to the Analysis of the Role of Rationality in Social Action (Talcott Parsons, Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 53-57 Rationality in Action: (Discussion Protocol of the) Meeting of Monday, Feb. 19, 1940 (Donald V. McGranahan, Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 59-60 The Role of Ideas in the Extension and Limitation of Rationality (Wilbert E. Moore, Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 61-68 The Rational Means-End Schema as a Tool for Empirical Analysis of Social Action (Rainer Schickele, Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 69-84 The Problem of Rationality in the Social World (Alfred Schütz, Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 85-102 Front Matter ....Pages 103-103 Bounded Rationality and Emotions and How Sociology May Take Profit: Towards an Interdisciplinary Opening (Dieter Bögenhold)....Pages 105-120 The Concept of Rationality in Modern Social Sciences: A Critical Appraisal of Joseph A. Schumpeter’s Essay on “The Meaning of Rationality” (Andreas Diekmann)....Pages 121-135 Schütz on Rationality (Martin Endress)....Pages 137-147 Rationality, Norms, and the Sociological Reconstruction of Economic Theory (Mark Gould)....Pages 149-165 Conceptualizing Rational Social Action (Victor Lidz)....Pages 167-188 Ordinary Beauty, Ordinary Ugliness, and the Problem of Rationality (Antonio Strati)....Pages 189-206 Continuity and Change in Parsons’ Understanding of Rationality (Raf Vanderstraeten)....Pages 207-222 Inchoate Situations and Extra-Rational Behavior (Christopher Winship)....Pages 223-243 Front Matter ....Pages 245-245 Letter Exchange Regarding the Seminar and Plans for Publication (Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 247-264 Later Letters Regarding the Seminar (Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz)....Pages 265-283 Back Matter ....Pages 285-288