Morality and Rational Choice
Morality and Rational Choice

Author: J. Baron

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1993-05-31

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9780792322764

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This book develops and defends a version of utilitarianism, including expected-utility theory, as a normative model of decision making. The defense, based on the idea of utility as achievement of goals, considers the endorsement of a norm as a decision and asks what reasons we have to endorse norms for decision making. The reasons derive from our pre-existing goals, so any norm we endorse must not fly in the face of these goals, although it must not be selfishly biased, either. This approach is further clarified by drawing distinctions between decisions for the self, for a single other person, for several others, and for the self and others. The book discusses the implications of this argument for the psychological study of decision making, the act--omission distinction, moral education, decision analysis, risk analysis, and other questions of public policy. The final chapter sketches a prescriptive approach to group decision making.

Business Ethics as Rational Choice
Business Ethics as Rational Choice

Author: John Hooker

Publisher: Pearson

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780136118671

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For courses in Business Ethics. Build business ethics expertise through application. Business Ethics as Rational Choice focuses on building decision-making skills so that readers can arrive at, and defend, personal or company decisions in an objective, and convincing, manner.

Communicative Action and Rational Choice
Communicative Action and Rational Choice

Author: Joseph Heath

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2003-01-24

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780262263030

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In this book Joseph Heath brings Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action into dialogue with the most sophisticated articulation of the instrumental conception of practical rationality-modern rational choice theory. Heath begins with an overview of Habermas's action theory and his critique of decision and game theory. He then offers an alternative to Habermas's use of speech act theory to explain social order and outlines a multidimensional theory of rational action that includes norm-governed action as a specific type. In the second part of the book Heath discusses the more philosophical dimension of Habermas's conception of practical rationality. He criticizes Habermas's attempt to introduce a universalization principle governing moral discourse, as well as his criteria for distinguishing between moral and ethical problems. Heath offers an alternative account of the level of convergence exhibited by moral argumentation, drawing on game-theoretic models to specify the burden of proof that the theory of communicative action and discourse must assume.

Feelings and Emotions
Feelings and Emotions

Author: Antony S. R. Manstead

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-04-05

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 9780521521017

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Rational Choice and Moral Agency
Rational Choice and Moral Agency

Author: David Schmidtz

Publisher:

Published: 1995-01

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 9780691034010

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Is it rational to be moral? How do rationality and morality fit together with being human? These questions are at the heart of David Schmidtz's exploration of the connections between rationality and morality. This inquiry leads into both metaethics and rational choice theory, as Schmidtz develops conceptions of what it is to be moral and what it is to be rational. He defends a fairly expansive conception of rational choice, considering how ends as well as means can be rationally chosen and explaining the role of self-imposed constraints in a rational life plan. His moral theory is dualistic, ranging over social structure as well as personal conduct and building both individual and collective rationality into its rules of recognition for morals. To the "why be moral" question, Schmidtz responds that being moral is rational, but he does not assume we have reasons to be rational. Instead, Schmidtz argues that being moral is rational in a particular way and that beings like us in situations like ours have reasons to be rational in just that way. This approach allows him to identify decisive reasons to be moral; at the same time, it explains why immorality is as prevalent as it is. This book thus offers a set of interesting and realistic conclusions about how morality fits into the lives of humanly rational agents operating in an institutional context like our own.

Morals by Agreement
Morals by Agreement

Author: David Gauthier

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 1987-05-21

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0191520144

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In this book the author argues that moral principles are principles of rational choice. According to the usual view of choice, a rational person selects what is likely to give the greatest expectation of value or utility. But in many situations, if each person chooses in this way, everyone will be worse off than need be. Instead, Professor Gauthier proposes a principle whereby choice is made on an agreed basis of co-operation, rather than according to what would give the individual the greatest expectation of value. He shows that such a principle not only ensures mutual benefit and fairness, thus satisfying the standards of morality, but also that each person may actually expect greater utility by adhering to morality, even though the choice did not have that end primarily in view. In resolving what may appear to be a paradox, the author establishes morals on the firm foundation of reason.

Morality and Rational Choice
Morality and Rational Choice

Author: J. Baron

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9401582262

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Public controversies - such as those about the distribution of goods between rich and poor, trade and population policies, allocation of medical resources, and the tradeoff between environment al protection and economic efficiency - often hinge on fundamental views about how we ought to make decisions tImt affect each other, that is, what principles we ought to follow. Efforts to find an acceptable public philosophy, a set of such principles on which people might agree, have foundered because of dis agreement among philosophers and others who are concerned with such issues. One view, which I shall develop and defend here, holds that decisions that affect others should be made according to an overall evaluation of the consequences of each option. This consequentialist view is opposed by a variety of alternatives, but many of the alternatives have in COlllmon a basis in moral intuition. To take a simple example, consequentialism holds that, other things equal, if we have decided that it is better to let a terminally ill patient die than to prolong her agony by keeping her alive, then we ought to kill her.

Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics
Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics

Author: Christoph Luetge

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-10-18

Total Pages: 1582

ISBN-13: 9789400714953

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The Handbook of Business Ethics: Philosophical Foundations is a standard interdisciplinary reference handbook in the field of business ethics. Articles by notable philosophers and economists examine fundamental concepts, theories and questions of business ethics: Are morality and self-interest compatible? What is meant by a just price? What did the Scholastic philosophers think about business? The handbook will cover the entire philosophical basis of business ethics. Articles range from historical positions such as Aristotelianism, Kantianism and Marxism to systematic issues like justice, religious issues, rights and globalisation or gender. The book is intended as a reference work for academics, students (esp. graduate), and professionals.

Contractarianism and Rational Choice
Contractarianism and Rational Choice

Author: Peter Vallentyne

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1991-01-25

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780521398152

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In this anthology, prominent moral and political philosophers offer a critical assessment of Gauthier's theory.

The Morality of Economic Behaviour
The Morality of Economic Behaviour

Author: Vangelis Chiotis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-25

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 135116886X

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The links between self-interest and morality have been examined in moral philosophy since Plato. Economics is a mostly value-free discipline, having lost its original ethical dimension as described by Adam Smith. Examining moral philosophy through the framework provided by economics offers new insights into both disciplines and the discussion on the origins and nature of morality. The Morality of Economic Behaviour: Economics as Ethics argues that moral behaviour does not need to be exogenously encouraged or enforced because morality is a side effect of interactions between self-interested agents. The argument relies on two important parameters: behaviour in a social environment and the effects of intertemporal choice on rational behaviour. Considering social structures and repeated interactions on rational maximisation allows an argument for the morality of economic behaviour. Amoral agents interacting within society can reach moral outcomes. Thus, economics becomes a synthesis of moral and rational choice theory bypassing the problems of ethics in economic behaviour whilst promoting moral behaviour and ethical outcomes. This approach sheds new light on practical issues such as economic policy, business ethics and social responsibility. This book is of interest primarily to students of politics, economics and philosophy but will also appeal to anyone who is interested in morality and ethics, and their relationship with self-interest.