Communicative Action and Rational Choice (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

Blurb

In this book Joseph Heath brings Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action
into dialogue with the most sophisticated articulation of the instrumental conception of practical
rationality-modern rational choice theory. Heath begins with an overview of Habermas's action theory
and his critique of decision and game theory. He then offers an alternative to Habermas's use of
speech act theory to explain social order and outlines a multidimensional theory of rational action
that includes norm-governed action as a specific type.In the second part of the book Heath discusses
the more philosophical dimension of Habermas's conception of practical rationality. He criticizes
Habermas's attempt to introduce a universalization principle governing moral discourse, as well as
his criteria for distinguishing between moral and ethical problems. Heath offers an alternative
account of the level of convergence exhibited by moral argumentation, drawing on game-theoretic
models to specify the burden of proof that the theory of communicative action and discourse must
assume.