Foundations and Applications of Decision Theory: Volume I Theoretical Foundations (The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science (13a))

1. INTRODUCTION In the Spring of 1975 we held an international workshop on the Foundations and Application of Decision Theory at the University of Western Ontario. To help structure the workshop into ordered and manageable sessions we distri­ buted the following statement of our goals to all invited participants. They in turn responded with useful revisions and suggested their own areas of interest. Since this procedure provided the eventual format of the sessions, we include it here as the most appropriate introduction to these collected papers result­ ing from the workshop. The reader can readily gauge the approximation to our mutual goals. 2. STATEMENT or OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE (Attached to this statement is a bibliography; names of persons cited in the statement and writing in this century will be found referenced in the biblio­ graphy - certain 'classics' aside. ) 2. 1. Preamble We understand in the following the Theory of Decisions in a broader sense than is presently customary, construing it to embrace a general theory of deciSion-making, induding social, political and economic theory and applica­ tions. Thus, we subsume the Theory of Games under the head of Decision Theory, regarding it as a particularly clearly formulated version of part of the general theory of decision-making. 1. INTRODUCTION In the Spring of 1975 we held an international workshop on the Foundations and Application of Decision Theory at the University of Western Ontario. To help structure the workshop into ordered and manageable sessions we distriƯ buted the following statement of our goals to all invited participants. They in turn responded with useful revisions and suggested their own areas of interest. Since this procedure provided the eventual format of the sessions, we include it here as the most appropriate introduction to these collected papers resultƯ ing from the workshop. The reader can readily gauge the approximation to our mutual goals. 2. STATEMENT or OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE (Attached to this statement is a bibliography; names of persons cited in the statement and writing in this century will be found referenced in the biblioƯ graphy - certain 'classics' aside.) 2. 1. Preamble We understand in the following the Theory of Decisions in a broader sense than is presently customary, construing it to embrace a general theory of deciSion-making, induding social, political and economic theory and applicaƯ tions. Thus, we subsume the Theory of Games under the head of Decision Theory, regarding it as a particularly clearly formulated version of part of the general theory of decision-making Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii The ‘Tracing Procedure’ and a Theory of Rational Interaction....Pages 1-54 Variety Among Hiearchies of Preference....Pages 55-65 Conflict and Structure in Multi-Level Multiple Objective Decision-Making Systems....Pages 67-114 Inadequacies in the Decision Analysis Model of Rationality....Pages 115-124 Counterfactuals and Two Kinds of Expected Utility....Pages 125-162 Coordination Theory....Pages 163-204 A Piagetian Approach to Decision and Game Theory....Pages 205-225 Axiomatizing the Logic of Decision....Pages 227-231 On Indeterminate Probabilities....Pages 233-261 Irrelevance....Pages 263-273 On a Decision Theoretic Method for Social Decision....Pages 275-281 Consensus and Comparison: A Theory of Social Rationality....Pages 283-309 Conjoint Measurement....Pages 311-336 The Minimax Theory and Expected-Utility Reasoning....Pages 337-367 Newcomb’s Many Problems....Pages 369-383 Newcomb’s Problem, Dominance and Expected Utility....Pages 385-398 The Copernican Revelation....Pages 399-426 Prolegomena to a Theory of Rational Motives....Pages 427-442 Back Matter....Pages 443-448