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3The Harmful Influence of Decision Theory on EthicsEthical Theory and Moral Practice 13 (5): 585-593. 2010.In the last half century, decision theory has had a deep influence on moral theory. Its impact has largely been beneficial. However, it has also given rise to some problems, two of which are discussed here. First, issues such as risk-taking and risk imposition have been left out of ethics since they are believed to belong to decision theory, and consequently the ethical aspects of these issues have not been treated in either discipline. Secondly, ethics has adopted the decision-theoretical idea …Read more
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6The modes of valuePhilosophical Studies 104 (1). 2001.Contrary to the received view, decision theory is not primarily devoted to instrumental (ends-to-means) reasoning. Instead, its major preoccupation is the derivation of ends from other ends. Given preferences over basic alternatives, it constructs preferences over alternatives that have been modified through the addition of value object modifiers (modes) that specify probability, uncertainty, distance in time etc. A typology of the decision-theoretical modes is offered. The modes do not have (ev…Read more
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7Uncertainty and the ethics of clinical trialsTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 27 (2): 149-167. 2006.A probabilistic explication is offered of equipoise and uncertainty in clinical trials. In order to be useful in the justification of clinical trials, equipoise has to be interpreted in terms of overlapping probability distributions of possible treatment outcomes, rather than point estimates representing expectation values. Uncertainty about treatment outcomes is shown to be a necessary but insufficient condition for the ethical defensibility of clinical trials. Additional requirements are propo…Read more
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97The Structure of Values and NormsCambridge University Press. 2001.Formal representations of values and norms are employed in several academic disciplines and specialties, such as economics, jurisprudence, decision theory and social choice theory. Sven Ove Hansson closely examines such foundational issues as the values of wholes and the values of their parts, the connections between values and norms, how values can be decision-guiding and the structure of normative codes with formal precision. Models of change in both preferences and norms are offered, as well …Read more
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7The Moral Oracle’s TestEthical Theory and Moral Practice 17 (4): 643-651. 2014.When presented with a situation involving an agent’s choice between alternative actions, a moral oracle says what the agent is allowed to do. The oracle bases her advice on some moral theory, but the nature of that theory is not known by us. The moral oracle’s test consists in determining whether a series of questions to the oracle can be so constructed that her answers will reveal which of two given types of theories she adheres to. The test can be applied to moral theories in order to determin…Read more
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1Twelve theses on the use of logic in moral philosophyJournal of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research 27 (2). 2010.Logic is a useful tool in moral philosophy, since it provides us with precise tools to study the structure of moral concepts and moral argumentation. Twelve theses on the use of logic in moral philosophy are put forward, emphasizing the possibilities but also pointing out some of the pitfalls.
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693Avdelningen för Filosofi, Institutionen för Filosofi och Teknikhistoria, KTH, Stockholm. Detta dokument får tills vidare fritt användas och kopieras.
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44The Ethics of Doing EthicsScience and Engineering Ethics 23 (1): 105-120. 2017.Ethicists have investigated ethical problems in other disciplines, but there has not been much discussion of the ethics of their own activities. Research in ethics has many ethical problems in common with other areas of research, and it also has problems of its own. The researcher’s integrity is more precarious than in most other disciplines, and therefore even stronger procedural checks are needed to protect it. The promotion of some standpoints in ethical issues may be socially harmful, and ev…Read more
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3The rôle of language in belief revisionStudia Logica 70 (1). 2002.Analytical tools that give precision to the concept of "independence of syntax" are developed in the form of a series of substitutivity principles. These principles are applied in a study of the rôle of language in belief revision theory. It is shown that sets of sentences can be used in models of belief revision to convey more information than what is conveyed by the combined propositional contents of the respective sets. It is argued that it would be unwise to programmatically restrain the use…Read more
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787The paper introduces ten open problems in belief revision theory, related to the representation of the belief state, to different notions of degrees of belief, and to the nature of change operations. It is argued that these problems are all issues in philosopical logic, in the strong sense of requiring inputs from both logic and philosophy for their solution.
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18The limits of precautionFoundations of Science 2 (2): 293-306. 1997.The maximin rule can be used as a formal version of the precautionary principle. This paper evaluates the feasibility and the intuitive plausibility of this decision rule. The major conclusions are: (1) Precaution has to be applied symmetrically. (2) Precaution is only possible when outcomes are comparable in terms of value, so that it can be determined which outcome is worst. (3) Precaution is sensitive to standards of possibility. Far-away scenarios have to be excluded, and it is difficult to …Read more
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542Value statements can be divided into three major groups according to how their criteria of evaluation are specified. The first of these groups consists of those value statements that are unspecified with respect to the criteria of evaluation. Here is one example: Her decision was very good. The second group consists of the viewpoint-specified value statements. In these value statements, an explicit point of view is given, from which the evaluation is made. We often use adverbs such as “morally”,…Read more
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10The Rôle of Language In Belief RevisionStudia Logica 70 (1): 5-21. 2002.Analytical tools that give precision to the concept of "independence of syntax" are developed in the form of a series of substitutivity principles. These principles are applied in a study of the rôle of language in belief revision theory. It is shown that sets of sentences can be used in models of belief revision to convey more information than what is conveyed by the combined propositional contents of the respective sets. It is argued that it would be unwise to programmatically restrain the use…Read more
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263The False Dichotomy between Coherentism and FoundationalismJournal of Philosophy 104 (6): 290-300. 2007.
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3Some Solved and Unsolved Remainder EquationsMathematical Logic Quarterly 41 (3): 362-368. 1995.The remainder set A⟂B of a set of sentences A modulo a set of sentences B is the set of all maximal subsets of A not implying any element of B. A remainder equation is an expression containing remainder sets, such as {A} = B⟂X, in which at least one set is unknown. Solutions to some classes of remainder equations are reported, and some unsolved problems are listed
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65Specified Meet ContractionErkenntnis 69 (1): 31-54. 2008.Specified meet contraction is the operation defined by the identity where ∼ is full meet contraction and f is a sentential selector, a function from sentences to sentences. With suitable conditions on the sentential selector, specified meet contraction coincides with the partial meet contractions that yield a finite-based contraction outcome if the original belief set is finite-based. In terms of cognitive realism, specified meet contraction has an advantage over partial meet contraction in that…Read more
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Science and Technology: What They Are and Why Their Relation MattersIn Sven Ove Hansson (ed.), The Role of Technology in Science: Philosophical Perspectives, Springer Verlag. 2015.
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8Three Approaches to Finitude in Belief ChangeIn T. Rønnow-Rasmussen B. Petersson J. Josefsson D. Egonsson (ed.), Hommage à Wlodek. Philosophical Papers Dedicated to Wlodek Rabinowicz, . 2007.
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