What matters and how it matters: A choice-theoretic representation of moral theories

Dietrich, Franz and List, Christian (2016): What matters and how it matters: A choice-theoretic representation of moral theories.

Abstract

We present a new “reason-based” approach to the formal representation of moral theories, drawing on recent decision-theoretic work. We show that any moral theory within a very large class can be represented in terms of two parameters: (i) a specification of which properties of the objects of moral choice matter in any given context, and (ii) a specification of how these properties matter. Reason-based representations provide a very general taxonomy of moral theories, as differences among theories can be attributed to differences in their two key parameters. We can thus formalize several important distinctions, such as between consequentialist and non-consequentialist theories, between universalist and relativist theories, between agent-neutral and agent-relative theories, between monistic and pluralistic theories, between atomistic and holistic theories, and between theories with a teleological structure and those without.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: moral choice, reason-based choice, consequentialism versus deontology, universalism versus relativism, agent-neutrality versus agent-relativity, monism versus pluralism, atomism versus holism, teleology versus non-teleology
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B0 - General; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B4 - Economic Methodology > B40 - General; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

References

Bhattacharyya, A., P. K. Pattanaik, and Y. Xu (2011) “Choice, Internal Consistency and Rationality”, Economics and Philosophy 27(2): 123–149.

Bossert, W., and K. Suzumura (2010) Consistency, Choice, and Rationality, Cambridge, MA (Harvard University Press).

Broome, J. (1991) Weighing Goods: Equality, Uncertainty and Time, Oxford (Blackwell).

Broome, J. (2004) Weighing Lives, Oxford (Oxford University Press).

Brown, C. (2011) “Consequentialize This”, Ethics 121(4): 749–771.

Buchak, L. (2013) Risk and Rationality, Oxford (Oxford University Press).

Dancy, J. (2013) “Moral Particularism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.), available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/moral-particularism/

Dietrich, F., and C. List (2013) “A reason-based theory of rational choice”, Nous 47(1): 104–134.

Dietrich, F., and C. List (2016) “Reason-based choice and context-dependence”, Economics and Philosophy.

Dreier, J. (1993) “Structures of Normative Theories”, The Monist 76(1): 22–40.

Dreier, J. (2011) “In Defense of Consequentializing”, in M. Timmons (ed.), Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics 1, Oxford (Oxford University Press): 97–118.

Heyd, D. (2016) “Supererogation”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.), available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/supererogation/

List, C. (1999) “Craig’s Theorem and the Empirical Underdetermination Thesis Reassessed”, Disputatio 7: 28–39.

Mason, E. (2015) “Value Pluralism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.), available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/value-pluralism/

Parfit, D. (2011) On What Matters, Oxford (Oxford University Press).

Portmore, D. (2011) Commonsense Consequentialism: Wherein Morality Meets Rationality, Oxford (Oxford University Press).

Quine, W. V. (1975) “On Empirically Equivalent Systems of the World”, Erkenntnis 9(3): 313–328.

Richter, M. (1971) “Rational Choice”, in J. S. Chipman et al. (eds.), Preferences, Utility, and Demand, New York (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich): 29–58.

Ridge, M. (2011) “Reasons for Action: Agent-Neutral vs. Agent-Relative”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.), available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/reasons-agent/

Savage, L. (1954) The Foundations of Statistics, New York (Wiley).

Sen, A. K. (1993) “Internal Consistency of Choice”, Econometrica 61(3): 495–521.

Temkin, L. S. (1996) “A Continuum Argument for Intransitivity”, Philosophy and Public Affairs 25(3): 175–210.

Temkin, L. S. (2012) Rethinking the Good: Moral Ideals and the Nature of Practical Reasoning, Oxford (Oxford University Press).

Tenenbaum, S. (2014) “The Perils of Earnest Consequentializing”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 88(1): 233–240.

Urmson, J. O. (1958) “Saints and Heroes”, in A. I. Melden (ed.), Essays in Moral Philosophy, Seattle (University of Washington Press): 198–216.

van Fraassen, B. C. (1980) The Scientific Image, Oxford (Oxford University Press).

von Neumann, J., and O. Morgenstern (1944) Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton (Princeton University Press).

Voorhoeve, A. (2013) “Vaulting Intuition: Temkin’s Critique of Transitivity”, Economics and Philosophy 29(3): 409–423.