Introduction Part I Rationality in the history of economic thought 1. Rationality in economics before World War II 2. The hardly consistent story of rationality-consistency Part II Objections to the notion of minimal rationality 3. Can methodological individualism survive? 4. Is still some room left for irrationality? 5. Minimal and Maximal Rationality: loosely defined concepts? Part III But is rationality really necessary in economics? 6. Why unrealism of assumptions remains a predicament 7. Explaining in the absence of rationality Part IV Regarding economic explanations 8. Rationality and Natural Selection in Economics 9. Theories of explanation applied to economics. Epilogue
Biography
Maurice Lagueux is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Université de Montréal, Canada.
"Explores methodological and philosophical problems raised by economics and considers the role that the rationality principle plays." – Journal of Economic Literature Sept. 2010
