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On the regress problem of deciding how to decide

Hanti Lin

pp. 661-670

Abstract

Any decision is made in some way or another. Which way? (Have I worked out enough alternatives to choose from? Which decision rule to apply?) That is a higher-order decision problem, to be dealt with in some way or other. Which way? That is an even higher-order decision problem. There seems to be a regress of decision problems toward higher and higher orders. But in daily life we stop moving to higher-order decision problems—stop the regress—at some finite point. The regress problem of deciding how to decide is the problem of explaining what would make it rational to stop the regress. I will give a new solution in the present paper. The result suggests a new way of looking at standard Bayesian theory and the more recent theory of adaptive rationality.

Publication details

Published in:

Peijnenburg Jeanne, Wenmackers Sylvia (2014) Infinite regress in decision theory, philosophy of science, and formal epistemology. Synthese 191 (4).

Pages: 661-670

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-014-0398-1

Full citation:

Lin Hanti (2014) „On the regress problem of deciding how to decide“. Synthese 191 (4), 661–670.