Call for papers:
On pragmatic aspects of rationality, agency and decision making for a special volume of the Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities
Authors – participants of Lublin-Granada seminars held in 2014 and 2015, as well as others working on rationality issues – interested in contributing to the special issue of the Poznań Studies are asked for papers dealing with some of the following issues:
(1) Rationality as a philosophical ideal, its history and the changes it has undergone in European philosophy as well as in modern science;
(2) Rationalism as a philosophical position, attitude, or perspective versus other positions such as irrationality, voluntarism, emotivism, empiricism, etc;
(3) Rationality as a distinguishing feature of human both thinking and action, in particular the of the various activities – problem solving, decision making, reasoning, evaluating etc. – where the means to be used are stated and selected to achieve the aims of that activity;
(4) General models of what human rationality is or ought to be, in particular models of classical, instrumental, utilitarian, or bounded rationality, as well as the methods used for its description, measurement, estimation and evaluation.
Most philosophical, psychological or scientific theories of rationality distinguish between descriptive and normative aspects of rationality. It would be desirable, therefore, for the authors to address this crucial distinction by pointing out what aspect they are taking into account and how they are dealing with the relevant issues.
Agency of rational and irrational human action and thought is worth considering in more detail. The epistemic aspect of rationality – in particular, the types of knowledge, its limits as well as dealing with insufficient information – can also be considered while analyzing rationality, as can the connection between the agency of individual and collective undertakings. Examples of evolutionary and socio-technologically-oriented studies of bounded and situated (dispersed) rationality provide relevant challenges.
Apart from theoretical and general analyses or historical studies of rationality, empirically oriented case studies are also welcome – not only philosophical analyses but also scientific studies would enrich the planned volume.
The authors are asked to prepare their papers by the end of February 2016 according to the guidelines provided: