Competing reasons, incomplete preferences, and framing effects

Area of Science:

• Philosophy
• Decision Theory
• Moral Psychology

Background:

• Bermúdez's model of quasi-cyclical preferences is commonly used to explain agent behavior in complex situations.
• This model has been applied to historical and literary figures, such as Agamemnon, to understand their choices.
• Existing interpretations may not fully capture the nuances of agent decision-making in such scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the adequacy of Bermúdez's quasi-cyclical preferences.
• To propose and elaborate on two alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding agent preferences.
• To offer a more accurate representation of how agents' preferences function in decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of preference theory in decision-making.
• Development of alternative models based on agent's personal betterness orderings.
• Exploration of an alternative model based on an agent's dispositional summaries of actions.

Main Results:

• The quasi-cyclical preferences model is found to be an imperfect representation of agent preferences.
• An alternative model, focusing on the agent's personal betterness ordering of acts, provides a stronger account.
• A second alternative model, interpreting preferences as a summary of an agent's dispositions to act, also offers significant explanatory power.

Conclusions:

• The study suggests that agent preferences are better understood through personal betterness or dispositional summaries.
• These alternative accounts offer more robust explanations for complex decision-making than the quasi-cyclical model.
• Revisiting the theoretical underpinnings of preference representation is crucial for advancing decision theory and moral psychology.