Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Overview
- 2 Group Rationality: A Unique Problem
- 3 The Problem Explored: Sen's Way
- 4 The Skeptical View
- 5 The Subjectivist View I
- 6 The Subjectivist View II
- 7 The Objectivist View
- 8 Putnam, Individual Rationality, and Peirce's Puzzle
- 9 The Nine Problems
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
5 - The Subjectivist View I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Overview
- 2 Group Rationality: A Unique Problem
- 3 The Problem Explored: Sen's Way
- 4 The Skeptical View
- 5 The Subjectivist View I
- 6 The Subjectivist View II
- 7 The Objectivist View
- 8 Putnam, Individual Rationality, and Peirce's Puzzle
- 9 The Nine Problems
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Quentin Skinner:
If we first ask about the goals Machiavelli urges us to embrace as citizens, these all turn out to be feminine: wealth, liberty, and civic greatness. If we next ask about the type of community we need to sustain in order to realize these goals, we find that this is seen by contrast as masculine: it must be a vivere politico, a vivere civile, a vivere libero – terms usually translated as a ‘free state.’ If we go on to ask about the qualities needed to uphold such a community, these again prove to be feminine, including virtu itself as well as the attribute of prudence, the greatest of political virtues. But if we ask finally about the institutions and arrangements we need to establish in order to promote civic virtues, we find that these – the most basic and shaping elements – are entirely masculine: not merely the term for the general condition of public life (lo stato), but also the words used to describe specific institutions (including the Senate and the various magistracies) and the ordini or ordinances that bind the whole edifice together.
If we take heed, there is a lot here for us. Our problem of group rationality is modest – too modest, by comparison to the problem Machiavelli was engaged with: to dream up a grand plan for a great society for a conniving prince. Nonetheless, there are obvious parallels. What in a scientific society are the goals scientists should embrace?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Group Rationality in Scientific Research , pp. 107 - 135Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007