Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality

Cambridge Philosophy Classics

by Jon Elster

Sour Grapes aims to subvert orthodox theories of rational choice through the study of forms of irrationality. Dr Elster begins with an analysis of the notation of rationality, to provide the background and terms for the subsequent discussions, which cover irrational behaviour, irrational desires and irrational belief. These essays continue and complement the arguments of Jon Elster's earlier book, Ulysses and the Sirens. That was published to wide acclaim, and Dr Elster shows the same versatility here in drawing on philosophy, political and social theory, decision-theory, economics and psychology, as well as history and literature.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Economics, Social Science, Politics, Nonfiction

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Jon Elster ، born 22 February 1940, Oslo) is a Norwegian social and political theorist who has authored works in the philosophy of social science and rational choice theory. He is also a notable proponent of analytical Marxism, and a critic of neoclassical economics and public choice theory, largely on behavioral and psychological grounds.

In 2016, he was awarded the 22nd Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science for his contributions to political science.

Reviews

[Amanda Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mind boggles. A very interesting read, but also incredibly hard to digest.

This sentence really stood out:
"When I no longer possess – or no longer am possessed by – the perverse drive for novelty and change, the non-satisfaction of non-autonomous wants may turn into the satisfaction of autonomous ones."

[Mskabatas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anlamak için biraz sakin bir kafa ile okumak gerekiyor. Tümünü anlamasam da bazı konularda ileri sürdüğü tezler ve örnekler ufuk acıyor.
Zor bir kitap olduğunu tekrar edeyim...

[Lukas Vermeer]

I feel unqualified to rate this work. I found some ideas and concepts interesting, but really had to wrestle myself through most of the pages; far from an easy read. I am clearly not the intended audience for this work, but I’m also not sure who is.

[sube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elster is able within the same book to offer a defence of rational choice theory, offer a critique of utilitarianism in favor of Aristotlian virtue theory, seek to reformulate a Marxist theory of ideology, an account of aesthetics, alongside the impossibility of intentionally bringing about "states that are essentially by-product".

He always keeps his point concise enough, yet offers enough elaboration on each of them and especially his account of states that are essentially by-product is extremely useful and undermines a lot of bad causal accounts one finds constantly in social science while also offering a new approach that can better explain the emergence of by-products.

His account of ideology, especially his distinction between bias-induced and interest-induced interests (i.e. former due to someone's class position and latter due to wishful thinking for someone's class interests) and how former is usually serving someone's class interests but not intentionally created for this, while latter serves someone's class interests but is often harmful due to being a distorted belief.

A great work, he offers a variety of great points and discussions one should take further up and even if one disagrees with him, he helps to clarify someone's thoughts greatly.

[Firat Fidan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuduğum en iyi felsefe kitaplarından biri olan Ekşi Üzümler, çağdaş siyaset felsefesi ve rasyonalite kuramı alanında oldukça etkili ve tartışmalı bir eser. Hepimizin çocukken okuduğu ve tilkinin uzanamadığı üzümler için ekşi dediği Ezop masalının başlığını kullanan yazar, kitap içinde de insan davranışındaki çarpıklıklar için bu hikayeye sıklıkla değiniyor. İnsanların ulaşamadıkları şeyler için küçümseyici tavır sergilemesi ve daha sonra da bunu rasyonelleştirmesinin özgür irademize olan etkilerini kitapta örneklemelerle okuyabilirsiniz.

Benim için en etkileyici tarafı, “ulaşamadığını küçümseme” refleksinin ne kadar derinlere işlediğini göstermesi ve “gerçekten kendi kararlarımızı mı veriyoruz, yoksa sadece şartlara uyum sağlama gerekçeleri mi uyduruyoruz?” sorusunu sordurması.

Yalnızca felsefenin değil aynı zamanda felsefenin psikolojik ve ekonomik bağlantılarını da akademik bir açıdan gözlemleyebileceğiniz bu kitabı ‘hayatınızda okumanız gereken eserler’ sırasına mutlaka koyun.

[Asier Montero · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Los dos casos [desear la espontaneidad y desear el sueño] tienen en común la característica de que el objeto del deseo es un estado privado: la ausencia de una forma específica de conciencia como la atención a la impresión que uno causa, o la ausencia de conciencia en general. Por otra parte, ambos casos comparten la característica de que los medios elegidos para producir este estado tienen la particular característica de haber sido concebidos erróneamente, puesto que tienden a proponer y a atrincherar el objeto mismo cuya ausencia se desea. Si deseo la ausencia de un perro, mi deseo por sí solo no lo hará presente. Si deseo la ausencia de cierto pensamiento específico, o del pensamiento en general, el deseo por sí solo basta para asegurar la presencia del objeto."

[Omer · Rating 5 out of 5]

מעניין מאוד. התופעה של essential by products נראית לי מאוד חשובה. לא תמיד השתכנעתי מהדוגמאות ואני חושב שהיה לאלסטר נטייה קצת למדע פופולרי פה. אבל סה"כ ספר מאיר עיניים.