Crossposted from my Substack.

Rational choice theory is commonly thought of as being about what to do in light of our beliefs and preferences. But our beliefs and preferences come from somewhere. I would say that we believe and prefer things for reasons. My evidence gives me reason to believe I am presently in an airport. Any reason I have to think a coin will land heads applies to tails, too, so I should have the same degree of belief in each. The suffering I expect to be averted by donating to charity gives me a reason to donate.

I think reflecting more closely on how our reasons enter into our decision-making can open up new directions for the theory of decision-making. It is particularly relevant, perhaps, for bounded agents who cannot generally act on the basis of expected utility calculations, but can still reflect on and [...]

---

Outline:

(01:58) Preliminaries

(03:14) Reasons for belief

(08:24) Explicitly reasons-based choice

(10:21) Cluelessness

(18:05) Acknowledgements

The original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

---

First published:

Source:

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.