Rationality, Intelligibility, and Interpretation

Peter Stone
Additional contact information
Peter Stone: Political Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044 (650) 725-2916, peter.stone@stanford.edu

Rationality and Society, 2009, vol. 21, issue 1, 35-58

Abstract: Behavior is rational to the extent that it optimizes actions, beliefs, and information collection subject to various constraints. It is intelligible to the extent that it makes sense to an interpreter. The two concepts are connected because interpretation ordinarily proceeds on the assumption that others would do what we do under the same circumstances, mutatis mutandis . And because we of necessity understand our own behavior as being as rational as possible given the constraints we face, we must interpret the behavior of others in the same way. This paper develops the concepts of rationality and intelligibility, and applies them to the problem of interpretation. It does so by relying upon Jon Elster's recent work upon the same concepts. Like Elster, moreover, this paper concerns both the interpretation of real behavior and that of fictional characters.

Keywords: Elster; fiction; intelligibility; interpretation; rationality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463108099458 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:21:y:2009:i:1:p:35-58

DOI: 10.1177/1043463108099458

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Rationality and Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().