[koglist] From Rational Choice to Reflexivity...Public Lecture by Alex Rosenberg, Wednesday, November 21, 5:30 p.m.

Dear All! This is a kind reminder about Alex Rosenberg's public lecture next week. Please find attached Professor Rosenberg's notes that he'll base his lecture on. The Department of Philosophy & the Provost’s Office at CEU cordially invite you to a public lecture by ALEX ROSENBERG Duke University on on and Soros at 17:30 on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 CEU-Auditorium, 1051 Bp., Nádor u. 9. This lecture identifies the major failings of mainstream economics and the rational choice theory it relies upon. These failures were identified by the four figures mentioned in the title: economics treats agents as rational fools; by the time the long run equilibrium arrives, we are all dead; the social, political and economic institutions that meet most urgent human needs most effectively could not have been the result of rational choice, but their "spontaneous order" needs to be explained; human uncertainty and reflexivity prohibit a predictively useful rational choice approach to human affairs, and even limit its role in institution design. The upshot is not a counsel of despair for social science but a guide to the kind of knowledge that the guidance of policy--public and private--really needs. Alex Rosenberg is the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, where is also professor of biology and political science. Rosenberg has been a visiting professor and fellow of the at the Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, visiting lecturer at Oxford University and a visiting fellow at the Research School of Social Science, of the Australian National University. In 1993 Rosenberg received the Lakatos Award in the philosophy of science. In 2007 he held a fellowship at the National Humanities Center. In the same year he was also the Phi Beta Kappa-Romanell Lecturer. He is the author of many books in the philosophy of social and biological sciences. Kind regards, Zsuzsanna Bajó Assistant Office of Provost & the Pro-Rector for Hungarian and EU Affairs Central European University H-1051 Budapest, Nador u. 9. Tel.: (+ 36 1) 327 3000/2188 Fax: (+ 36 1) 327 3007 ( tel:%28%2B%2036%201%29%20327%203007 ) E-mail: bajozs(a)ceu.hu ( mailto:bajozs@ceu.hu ) Web: www.ceu.hu