Rationality and Dynamic Choice
Foundational Explorations

This is a major contribution to the theory of rational choice which will be of particular interest to philosophers and economists.

Edward F. McClennen (Author)

9780521360470, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 May 1990

328 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.565 kg

"McClennen's book is a highly interesting and valuable contribution to the growing literature on the nature of reason....Moreover McClennen's discussion of a wealth of central ideas and issues in decision theory bearing on his defence of resolute choice (to which I cannot hope to do justice in this review) takes the reader through some fascinating territory. The journey is well worth the price of admission." Jean Hampton, Canadian Philosophical Reviews

This is a major contribution to the theory of rational choice which will be of particular interest to philosophers and economists. The author sets out the foundations of rational choice, and then sketches a dynamic choice framework in which principles of ordering and independence follow from a number of apparently plausible conditions. However, there is potential conflict among these conditions, and when they are weakened to avoid it the usual foundations of rational choice no longer prevail. The thrust of the argument is to suggest that the theory of rational choice is less deterministic than many suppose.

1. Introduction and sketch of the main argument
2. The ordering principle
3. The independence principle
4. The problem of justification
5. Pragmatic arguments
6. Dynamic choice problems
7. Rationality conditions on dynamic choice
8. Consequentialist constructions
9. Rethinking the problem of dynamic consistency
10. A critique of the pragmatic arguments
11. Formalizing the pragmatic arguments
12. The feasibility of resolute choice
13. Connections
14. Conclusions
Postscript: projections.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: logic [HPL]