Beyond self-interest
A dramatic transformation has begun in the way scholars think about human nature. Political scientists, psychologists, economists, and evolutionary biologists are beginning to reject the view that human affairs are shaped almost exclusively by self-interest--a view that came to dominate social science in the last three decades. In Beyond Self-Interest, leading social scientists argue for a view of individuals behavior and social organization that takes into account the powerful motivations of duty, love, and malevolence. Economists who go beyond "economic man," psychologists who go beyond stimulus-response, evolutionary biologists who go beyond the "selfish gene," and political scientists who go beyond the quest for power come together in this provocative and important manifesto. The essays trace, from the ancient Greeks to the present, the use of self-interest to explain political life. They investigate the differences between self-interest and the motivations of duty and love, showing how these motivations affect behavior in "prisoners' dilemma" interactions. They generate evolutionary models that explain how altruistic motivations escape extinction. They suggest ways to model within one individual the separate motivations of public spirit and self-interest, investigate public spirit and self-interest, investigate public spirit in citizen and legislative behavior, and demonstrate that the view of democracy in existing Constitutional interpretations is not based on self-interest. They advance both human evil and mothering as alternatives to self-interest, this last in a penetrating feminist critique of the "contract" model of human interaction
xiii, 402 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780226503592, 9780226503608, 0226503593, 0226503607
20418474
The rise and fall of self-interest in the explanation of political life / Jane J. Mansbridge
Rational fools / Amartya K. Sen
Selfishness and altruism / Jon Elster
Varieties of altruism / Christopher Jencks
A theory of moral sentiments / Robert H. Frank
Cooperation for the benefit of us
not me, or my conscience / Robyn M. Dawes, Alphons J.C. van de Kragt, and John M. Orbell
Culture and cooperation / Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson
On the relation of altruism and self-interest / Jane J. Mansbridge
Self-interest in Americans' political opinions / David O. Sears and Carolyn L. Funk
Justice, self-interest, and the legitimacy of legal and political authority / Tom R. Tyler
Deregulation and the politics of ideas in Congress / Paul J. Quirk
Congress and public spirit / Steven Kelman
Political self-interest in constitutional law / Cass R. Sunstein
Empathy and international regimes / Robert O. Keohane
Dual utilities and rational choice / Howard Margolis
Expanding the range of formal modeling / Jane J. Mansbridge
The secret history of self-interest / Stephen Holmes
Mothering versus contract / Virginia Held