Descriptive Uncertainty and Maximizing Expected Choice-Worthiness.

A popular model of normative decision-making under uncertainty suggests choosing the option with the maximum expected moral choice-worthiness (MEC), where the choice-worthiness values from each moral theory, which are assumed commensurable, are weighted by credence and combined. This study adds desc...

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Publicado en:Ethical Theory & Moral Practice Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 197 - 212
Autor principal: Kernohan, Andrew
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Mar2021
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Descriptive Uncertainty and Maximizing Expected Choice-Worthiness.
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        au: Kernohan, Andrew
        affil: Department of Philosophy, Dalhousie University, PO Box 15000, 6135 University Avenue, B3H 4R2, Halifax, NS, Canada
      su:
        Decision making
        Choice (Psychology)
        Ethics
        Random variables
        Uncertainty
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          Decision making
          Choice (Psychology)
          Ethics
          Random variables
          Uncertainty
      keyword:
        Commensurability
        Credence
        Maximum expected choice-worthiness
        Moral theories
        Normative uncertainty
      ab: A popular model of normative decision-making under uncertainty suggests choosing the option with the maximum expected moral choice-worthiness (MEC), where the choice-worthiness values from each moral theory, which are assumed commensurable, are weighted by credence and combined. This study adds descriptive uncertainty about the non-moral facts of a situation into the model by treating choice-worthiness as a random variable. When agents face greater descriptive uncertainty, the choice-worthiness random variable will have a greater spread and a larger standard deviation. MEC, as a decision rule, is sensitive only to the expected value of the random variable and not to its standard deviation. For example, MEC is insensitive to cases where an option with a large degree of descriptive uncertainty may have a higher probability of being below some threshold of impermissibility than does an option with less dispersion, even though the latter has a higher expected choice-worthiness. When applied to the same situation, similar moral theories will have statistically correlated choice-worthiness values. This correlation affects the dispersion of the credence-weighted sum of the random variables but not its expected value. Thus, MEC is insensitive to aspects of the normative situation to which a good decision-rule should be sensitive.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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    language: English
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