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25The Standard of LivingPhilosophical Books 29 (3): 180-183. 1988.This book review evaluate Amartya Sen's views about capabilities and the standard of living.
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63Conventions and social institutionsSouthern Journal of Philosophy 27 (4): 599-618. 1989.This essay examines views of convention advanced by David Lewis and Margaret Gilbert.
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78Interpersonal utility in principles of social choiceErkenntnis 21 (3). 1984.This paper summarizes and rebuts the three standard objections made by social choice theorists against interpersonal utility. The first objection argues that interpersonal utility is measningless. I show that this objection either focuses on irrelevant kinds of meaning or else uses implausible criteria of meaningfulness. The second objection argues that interpersonal utility has no role to play in social choice theory. I show that on the contrary interpersonal utility is useful in formulating go…Read more
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33The contributorsSynthese 176 (1): 149-150. 2010.This lists the contributors to a special issue on realistic standards for decisions.
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15Review of John Kagel, Raymond Battalio, and Leonard Green, ECONOMIC CHOICE THEORY: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR (review)Economics and Philosophy 15 (2): 295-302. 1999.Economic theory may explain the behavior of animals. Its application to animals is not straightforward, however.
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22Auguste Comte: Trajectoires positivistes 1798–1998 (review)Isis 96 470-471. 2005.Auguste Comte's version of positivism shares logical positivism's aversion to metaphysics.
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34Decisions without Sharp ProbabilitiesPhilosophia Scientiae 19 213-225. 2015.Adam Elga [Elga 2010] argues that no principle of rationality leads from unsharp probabilities to decisions. He concludes that a perfectly rational agent does not have unsharp probabilities. This paper defends unsharp probabilities. It shows how unsharp probabilities may ground rational decisions
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1Models of Decision-Making: Simplifying ChoicesCambridge University Press. 2014.The options in a decision problem generally have outcomes with common features. Putting aside the common features simplifies deliberations, but the simplification requires a philosophical justification that this book provides.
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300Conditional utility and its place in decision theoryJournal of Philosophy 77 (11): 702-715. 1980.Causal decision theory attends to probabilities used to obtain an option's expected utility but for completeness should also attend to utilities of possible outcomes. A suitable formula for an option's expected utility uses a certain type of conditional utility.
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6Probabilities in decision rulesIn Ellery Eells & James H. Fetzer (eds.), The Place of Probability in Science, Springer. pp. 289--319. 2010.The theory of direct reference suggests revising probability theory so that a probability attaches to a proposition given a way of understanding the proposition. The revisions make probabilities relative but do not change their structure.
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Comte et Mill sur l'économie politiqueRevue Internationale de Philosophie 52 (203): 79-93. 1998.This essay compares the views of Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill on political economy.
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52Labeling Genetically Modified Food: The Philosophical and Legal Debate (edited book)Oup Usa. 2007.Food products with genetically modified ingredients are common, yet many consumers are unaware of this. When polled, consumers say that they want to know whether their food contains GM ingredients, just as many want to know whether their food is natural or organic. Informing consumers is a major motivation for labeling. But labeling need not be mandatory. Consumers who want GM-free products will pay a premium to support voluntary labeling. Why do consumers want to know about GM ingredients? GM f…Read more
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37Contractiarianism and Bargaining TheoryJournal of Philosophical Research 16 369-385. 1991.Classical bargaining theory attempts to solve a bargaining problem using only the information about the problem contained in the representation of its possible outcomes in utility space. However, this information usually underdetermines the solution. I use additional information about interpersonal comparisons of utility and bargaining power. The solution is then the outcome that maximizes the sum of power-weighted utilities. I use these results to advance a contractarian argument for a utilitar…Read more
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94Initiating coordinationPhilosophy of Science 74 (5): 790-801. 2007.How do rational agents coordinate in a single-stage, noncooperative game? Common knowledge of the payoff matrix and of each player's utility maximization among his strategies does not suffice. This paper argues that utility maximization among intentions and then acts generates coordination yielding a payoff-dominant Nash equilibrium. ‡I thank the audience at my paper's presentation at the 2006 PSA meeting for many insightful points. †To contact the author, please write to: Philosophy Department,…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Philosophy of Probability |
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |