Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : discovering practical reason -- Gyges' choice : rationality and visibility -- Glaucon's dilemma : origins of social order -- Deioces' ultimatum : how to choose a ruler -- Solon's bargain : self-enforcing constitutional order -- Melos' prospect : limits of inter-state rationality -- Socrates' critique : problems for democratic rationality -- Cephalus' expertise : economic rationality -- Conclusions : utility and eudaimonia -- Appendix : probability, risk, and likelihood.

"In this book, Josiah Ober explores how ancient Greek sophists, historians, and philosophers developed sophisticated and systematic ideas about practical reason. At the same time, they recognized its limits-that not every decision can be reduced to mechanistic calculations of optimal outcomes. We see contemporary echoes of this tradition in the application of game theory to political science, economics, and business management. The Greeks and the Rational offers a striking revisionist history with widespread implications for the study of ancient Greek civilization, the history of thought, and human rationality itself"-- Provided by publisher.