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Decision Theory and the Rationality of Ends

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Ilmar Waldner
Ilmar Waldner*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
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Extract

One of the more important directions in which work in decision theory is moving is towards the consideration of possible norms not only upon the choices of actions but also upon preferences among the outcomes. There is beginning to be felt a need to explore rationality conditions upon desires, or goals, or preferences, in the same way that rationality conditions upon beliefs and upon choices of actions have been explored. I have suggested on another occasion that there are also reasons to explore the possibility of norms on the processes of planning, design of alternatives, and adaptation. I will not be dealing with these latter issues in this paper, however. Neither do I want now to discuss at length the reasons for incorporating norms on goals, etc., into a decision theory. Yet perhaps I need to motivate the project somewhat at the outset.

Type
Part VII. Recent Developments in Rational Decision Theory
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1976 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1976 , 1976 , pp. 408 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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