Art of Self-Persuasion

ISBN-13: 9780745619132 / Angielski / Miękka / 1997 / 336 str.

Raymond Boudon; Malcolm Slater

Opis

In this book Raymond Boudon examines the main theories for the explanation of beliefs, providing a major contribution to the analysis of beliefs and the theory of rationality.

Recenzje

"The simple title of this erudite and eclectic book does not do justice to the complexity or range of phenomena examined by Boudon. Students of the history of science, philosophy of science, sociology of knowledge, and psychology will find this a challenging and well–argued work. Upper–division undergraduate through professional." Choice

"This is a well–written volume with wide implications for the sociology of knowledge that should be useful for a variety of advanced courses." BSA Network

"Cautious, logical, and fresh ... philosophically, Boudon stands forth as martial voice for social science, ready to defend, from the persistent attacks of antiscientific hyperbole, a sociological tradition won at great cost over the last 100 years." American Journal of Sociology

"I hope this book will be followed by a debate about the issues it raises because it deserves that kind of attention." Acta Sociologica

Spis treści

Preface.

Part I:.

1. The Powers that Induce us to Agree.

2. Good Reasons for Believing in False Ideas.

3. Simmel′s Model.

4. Hyperbole Machines..

Part II: .

5. Questions and Answers.

6. No Effect Without Cause.

7. Truth is Unique.

8. Words and Things.

Part III:.

9. Reason with a Small.

10. Simmel and the Theory of Knowledge.

Notes.

Index.

O autorze

Raymond Boudon is one of the leading sociologists in Europe today. His previous books include The Analysis of Ideology (Polity, 1989) and Theories of Social Change (Polity, 1991).

Blurb

People of all times and cultures have believed in false and dubious ideas. This is just as true of our modern scientific age as it was of earlier cultures – we too believe in all sorts of ungrounded causal statements, like such and such a practice can lead to a longer life, to better health and so on. How can such beliefs be explained?

Boudon examines the main theories that have been used in the social sciences and psychology for the explanation of beliefs. He then develops a particular model which enables him to show that actors often have good reasons to believe in false ideas. The central idea of this model is that actors often draw controversial conclusions from valid arguments because they introduce implicit statements which they do not perceive, since they treat them with good reasons as self–evident. Hence they can hold doubtful or even false conclusions and regard them as solidly grounded. Boudon shows that this model can be used to reinterpret many findings from the sociology of religion and the sociology of knowledge, as well as from cognitive psychology. It can also show how scientific arguments can lead to false or fragile beliefs – in short, beliefs in false ideas are often grounded in serious arguments.

The Art of Self–Persuasion is a major contribution to the analysis of beliefs. Moreover, through the elaboration of the notion of ′good reasons′, it also makes a significant contribution to the theory of rationality.