An argument against causal decision theory

Analysis 81 (1):52-61 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper develops an argument against causal decision theory. I formulate a principle of preference, which I call the Guaranteed Principle. I argue that the preferences of rational agents satisfy the Guaranteed Principle, that the preferences of agents who embody causal decision theory do not, and hence that causal decision theory is false.

Similar books and articles

Success-First Decision Theories.Preston Greene - 2018 - In Arif Ahmed (ed.), Newcomb's Problem. Cambridge University Press. pp. 115–137.
Conditional Preference and Causal Expected Utility.Brad Armendt - 1988 - In William Harper & Brian Skyrms (eds.), Causation in Decision, Belief Change, and Statistics. Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 3-24.
Why Take Both Boxes?Jack Spencer & Ian Wells - 2019 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 99 (1):27-48.
Causal decision theory.David Lewis - 1981 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 59 (1):5 – 30.
Causal Decision Theory.Ellery Eells - 1984 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1984:177 - 200.
Causal Decision Theory and Decision Instability.Brad Armendt - 2019 - Journal of Philosophy 116 (5):263-277.
Tournament decision theory.Abelard Podgorski - 2020 - Noûs 56 (1):176-203.
Some counterexamples to causal decision theory.Andy Egan - 2007 - Philosophical Review 116 (1):93-114.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-09-12

Downloads
647 (#19,726)

6 months
110 (#17,546)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Jack Spencer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Citations of this work

Decision, Causality, and Predetermination.Boris Kment - forthcoming - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
Rational monism and rational pluralism.Jack Spencer - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 178 (6):1769-1800.
Escaping the Cycle.J. Dmitri Gallow - 2022 - Mind 131 (521):99-127.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Rationality and Dynamic Choice: Foundational Explorations.Edward Francis McClennen - 1990 - Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Causal decision theory.David Lewis - 1981 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 59 (1):5 – 30.
Evidence, Decision and Causality.Arif Ahmed - 2014 - United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
The Foundations of Causal Decision Theory.Isaac Levi & James M. Joyce - 2000 - Journal of Philosophy 97 (7):387.

View all 24 references / Add more references