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19Value in Ethics and Economics (review)Philosophical Books 36 (2): 139-141. 1995.This review describes and evaluates a book by Elizabeth Anderson.
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16A Study of Concepts (review)Review of Metaphysics 48 (1): 159-160. 1994.Peacocke presents a theory of concepts that builds upon his earlier articles. He takes concepts as abstract objects that are components of thoughts, that are individuated by the test of informativeness, and whose possession affects a thinker's capacity for thought. His view is Fregean, but he individuates concepts more finely than Frege. For instance, he takes a first-level predicative concept as a mode of presentation of a property rather than as a function from objects to truth values.
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15Decisions to follow a ruleBehavioral and Brain Sciences 25 (2): 280-281. 2002.Rachlin favors following patterns over making decisions case by case. However, his accounts of self-control and altruism do not establish the rationality of making decisions according to patterns. The best arguments for using patterns as a standard of evaluation appeal to savings in cognitive costs and compensation for irrational dispositions. What the arguments show depends on how they are elaborated and refined.
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15Review of Erik J. Olsson (ed.), Knowledge and Inquiry: Essays on the Pragmatism of Isaac Levi (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (8). 2007.
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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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14Self-Supporting Strategies and Equilibria in GamesAmerican Philosophical Quarterly 36 (4). 1999.A strategic equilibrium is a profile of strategies that are each self-supporting given the profile. Strategic equilibria exist in games without Nash equilibria.
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14The Cement of SocietyPhilosophical Books 33 (1): 1-9. 1992.This critical notice describes and evaluates Jon Elster' views in Solomonic Judgments, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences, and The Cement of Society
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14Does collective rationality entail efficiency?Logic Journal of the IGPL 18 (2): 308-322. 2010.Collective rationality in its ordinary sense is rationality’s extension to groups. It does not entail efficiency by definition. Showing that it entails efficiency requires a normative argument. Game theorists treating cooperative games generally assume that collective rationality entails efficiency, but formulating the reasoning that leads individuals to efficiency, and verifying the rationality of its steps, presents challenging philosophical issues. This paper constructs a framework for addres…Read more
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14Rational Choice Using Imprecise Probabilities and UtilitiesCambridge University Press. 2021.An agent often does not have precise probabilities or utilities to guide resolution of a decision problem. I advance a principle of rationality for making decisions in such cases. To begin, I represent the doxastic and conative state of an agent with a set of pairs of a probability assignment and a utility assignment. Then I support a decision principle that allows any act that maximizes expected utility according to some pair of assignments in the set. Assuming that computation of an option's e…Read more
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14The General Welfare As A Constitutional GoalSocial Philosophy Today 5 411-432. 1991.This essay examines how attention to the general welfare should influence the formulation of a constitution.
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13Review of Jordan Howard Sobel: Taking Chances: Essays on Rational Choice (review)Ethics 106 (1): 191-192. 1995.
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13Comments on Ellis’ “What Economists (and Everyone Else) Should Think About Utility Theory”Southwest Philosophy Review 18 (2): 117-120. 2002.
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11Regulation of risksBehavioral and Brain Sciences 28 (4): 564-565. 2005.Sunstein argues that heuristics misguide moral judgments. Principles that are normally sound falter in unusual cases. In particular, heuristics generate erroneous judgments about regulation of risks. Sunstein's map of moral reasoning omits some prominent contours. The simple heuristics he suggests neglect a reasoner's attempt to balance the pros and cons of regulating a risk.
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11Intrinsic Utility’s CompositionalityJournal of the American Philosophical Association 1 (3): 545--563. 2015.
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11AFTERWORDS Criticism and CounterthesesJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 40 (3): 327-328. 1981.
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9[Book review] equilibrium and rationality, game theory revised by decision rules (review)Ethics 109 (3): 684-686. 1998.This book represents a major contribution to game theory. It offers this conception of equilibrium in games: strategic equilibrium. This conception arises from a study of expected utility decision principles, which must be revised to take account of the evidence a choice provides concerning its outcome. The argument for these principles distinguishes reasons for action from incentives, and draws on contemporary analyses of counterfactual conditionals. The book also includes a procedure for ident…Read more
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8Equilibrium and Rationality: Game Theory Revised by Decision RulesCambridge University Press. 1998.This book represents a major contribution to game theory. It offers this conception of equilibrium in games: strategic equilibrium. This conception arises from a study of expected utility decision principles, which must be revised to take account of the evidence a choice provides concerning its outcome. The argument for these principles distinguishes reasons for action from incentives, and draws on contemporary analyses of counterfactual conditionals. The book also includes a procedure for ident…Read more
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8PreferenceIn Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Blackwell. 2013.Decision theory relies on an account of preference. Some accounts are behaviorist and others are mentalistic. The account used affects the explanatory power of decision theory.
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7Decision Space: Multidimensional Utility AnalysisCambridge University Press. 2001.In Decision Space: Multidimensional Utility Analysis, first published in 2001, Paul Weirich increases the power and versatility of utility analysis and in the process advances decision theory. Combining traditional and novel methods of option evaluation into one systematic method of analysis, multidimensional utility analysis is a valuable tool. It provides formulations of important decision principles, such as the principle to maximize expected utility; enriches decision theory in solving recal…Read more
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7When new technologies create risks, government agencies use regulations to control the risks. This paper advances a method of evaluating a democracy’s regulation of risks. It assumes that a regulatory agency should act as the public would act in ideal conditions for negotiation if the public were rational and informed. The method relies on decision theory and game theory to ascertain whether a regulation has the public’s informed support. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regul…Read more
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6The received view of framingBehavioral and Brain Sciences 45. 2022.The received view of framing has multiple interpretations. I flesh out an interpretation that is more open-minded about framing effects than the extensionality principle that Bermúdez formulates. My interpretation attends to the difference between preferences held all things considered and preferences held putting aside some considerations. It also makes room for decision principles that handle cases without a complete all-things-considered preference-ranking of options.
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6Contractiarianism 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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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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4Probabilities of Conditionals in Decision TheoryPacific Philosophical Quarterly 65 (1): 59-73. 2017.
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2Decisions in Dynamic SettingsPSA Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986 (1): 438-449. 1986.The expected utility of an option for a decision maker is defined with respect to probability and utility functions that represent the decision maker’s beliefs and desires. Therefore, as the decision maker’s beliefs and desires change, the expected utility of an opinion may change. Some options are such that their realizations change beliefs and desires in ways that change the expected utilities of the options. If a decision is made among options that include one or more of these special options…Read more
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2Colin Howson and Peter Urbach, Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 11 (1): 36-38. 1991.
Areas of Specialization
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Philosophy of Probability |
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |