•  3
    First, Mahtani argues that both in the game The Mug and in the Sleeping Beauty we should not defer to a trusted person under a particular designation if they do not self-identify under this designation. This invites a more complex Reflection Principle. I respond that there are more parsimonious ways to avoid the challenges posed to the Reflection Principle. Second, Mahtani argues that preferences create a hyperintensional context, which poses a challenge to the Ex-Ante Pareto Principle that can …Read more
  •  6
    We develop a probabilistic criterion for belief expansion that is sensitive to the degree of contextual fit of the new information to our belief set as well as to the reliability of our information source. We contrast our approach with the success postulate in AGM-style belief revision and show how the idealizations in our approach can be relaxed by invoking Bayesian-Network models.
  •  14
    Democratic answers to complex questions: an epistemic perspective
    In Matti Sintonen (ed.), The Socratic Tradition: Questioning as Philosophy and as Method. Texts in philosophy, . pp. 223-251. 2006.
    This paper addresses a problem for theories of epistemic democracy. In a decision on a complex issue which can be decomposed into several parts, a collective can use different voting procedures: Either its members vote on each sub-question and the answers that gain majority support are used as premises for the conclusion on the main issue, or the vote is conducted on the main issue itself. The two procedures can lead to different results. We investigate which of these procedures is better as a t…Read more
  •  19
    *Coping* is a collection of philosophical essays on how we deal with life’s challenges. We hope for better times, but what is hope, and is it a good thing to hope? How do we look back and make sense of our lives in the face of death? What is the nature of love, and how do we deal with its hardships? What makes for a genuine apology, and is there too much or too little apologizing in this world? Can we bring about changes in ourselves to adapt to our circumstances? How can we make sense of all th…Read more
  •  444
    Gender-neutral bathrooms are usually framed as an accommodation for trans and other gender-nonconforming individuals. In this paper, we show that the benefits of gender-neutral bathrooms are much broader. First, our simulations show that gender-neutral bathrooms reduce average waiting times: while waiting times for women go down invariably, waiting times for men either go down or slightly increase depending on usage intensity, occupancy-time differentials and the presence of urinals. Second, our…Read more
  •  51
    Gender-neutral bathrooms are usually framed as an accommodation for trans and other gender-nonconforming individuals. In this paper, we show that the benefits of gender-neutral bathrooms are much broader. First, our simulations show that gender-neutral bathrooms reduce average waiting times: while waiting times for women go down invariably, waiting times for men either go down or slightly increase depending on usage intensity, occupancy-time differentials and the presence of urinals. Second, our…Read more
  •  12
    Four Structures of Intransitive Preferences
    In Routledge Handbook of Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Routledge. forthcoming.
    I taxonomize a half-century of examples of intransitive preferences into four structures: (i) Cycles of Negligible-Value-Differences and Missing-Values; (ii) Condorcet-Voting-Paradox Style Cycles (iii) Sen’s-Libertarian-Paradox Style Cycles; and (iv) Sorites Cycles.
  • I trace the origin of the socialist slogans back to their biblical roots through the French Utopian socialists.
  •  253
    What Is this Thing Called Love?
    In Adrienne M. Martin (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Love in Philosophy, Routledge Handbooks in Philoso. 2018.
    Socrates’ eros model, St. Paul’s agape model, and Aristophanes’ shared-identity model have different takes on the constancy of love and on the loss of love. I illustrate how these models and themes find expression within literature, music, and film through the ages.
  •  4
  •  8
    This paper addresses a problem for theories of epistemic democracy. In a decision on a complex issue which can be decomposed into several parts, a collective can use different voting procedures: Either its members vote on each sub-question and the answers that gain majority support are used as premises for the conclusion on the main issue, or the vote is conducted on the main issue itself. The two procedures can lead to different results. We investigate which of these procedures is better as a t…Read more
  •  5
    Contextual pluralism and the libertarian paradox
    Archiv für Rechts- Und Sozialphilosophie 79 188-197. 1993.
  •  4
    A committee has to address a complex question, the answer to which requires answering several sub-questions. Two different voting procedures can be used. On one procedure, the committee members vote on each sub-question and the voting results then are used as premises for the committee’s conclusion on the main issue. This premise-based procedure can be contrasted with the conclusion-based procedure. On that procedure, the members directly vote on the conclusion, with the vote of each member bein…Read more
  •  11
    The tragedy of the commons as a voting game
    In Martin Peterson (ed.), The Prisoner's Dilemma, . pp. 156-176. 2015.
  •  2
    Principles of supervenience
    Journal of Symbolic Logic 59 (1): 346-347. 1994.
  •  89
    This selection of short stories in world literature by both classical and contemporary writers offers a window to a wide range of ethical questions. The target audience are students in humanities courses in high school or college. The stories are organized by regions and by themes. Each story is linked up with articles in newspapers and magazines that address the theme raised in the short story. A few guiding questions are included to start the discussion.
  •  6
  • Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 47 (4): 818-819. 1994.
    In the first part of this book Hausman defends a Millian view of the nature of economics. Economic models are deductive constructs based on principles that are arrived at through empirical generalization conjoined with simplifying assumptions. Economic theories are models put into practice by filling in economic data as initial conditions and by deducing predictions that are open to testing. If predictions fail, a reasoned account of the failure is due. Such an account consists in a critical exa…Read more
  •  25
  •  9
    Affirmative Action - a Polish Example?
    The Center for Values and Social Policy. 1991.
  •  21
    We investigate what nudging techniques could increase the acceptance of gender-neutral restrooms.
  • We investigate the effect of gender-neutral restrooms on waiting times.