This course serves two purposes that will be pursued in parallel. On the one hand, about half of each session will be devoted to some important texts from Ethics and the Philosophy of Economics that concern the structure and properties of values. On the other hand, in a second part of each session I will introduce the mathematical underpinnings needed to understand some important works like e.g. those of Harsanyi, A. Sen, or S.O. Hansson. My goal is to keep the readings as much as possible in sync with the general teaching syllabus but for organisatorial reasons this will not always be possible.

Preliminary Schedule

A calendar with the forthcoming sessions will appear here once we have agreed on modalities like time & place and talks.

• Introduction

• Session 1
  • Sets & Relations (1)
  • Trolley Problems: Thomson 1985
• Session 2
  • Sets & Relations (2)
  • Mill 1863
• Session 3
  • Functions, Preference Relations (1)
  • Intransitivity (1): Temkin 1987
• Session 4
  • Preference Relations (2)
  • Intransitivity (2): Schumm 1987
• Session 5
  • Value Functions, Ordinal vs. Cardinal Utility
  • Value Pluralism & Parity (1): Chang 2002
• Session 6
  • Additive Combination of Multiple Preferences, Revealed Preferences, Preference Elicitation
  • Value Pluralism & Parity (2): Gert 2004, Rabinowicz 2010
• Session 7
  • Expected Utility Theory (1), Maximin, Minimax with Regret
  • Harsanyi 1975
• Session 8
  • Expected Utility Theory (2), Welfarism, Preference Satisfaction View, Pareto Efficiency
  • Sen 1977
• Session 9
  • Summary: Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Comparison to Practical Reasoning
  • Broome 2002
• Session 10
  • Social Choice (1): Voting Procedures, Fairness Criteria vs. Pareto Optimality
  • Sen 1995
• Session 11
  • Social Choice (2): Arrow's Theorem, Sen's Theorem
  • Sen 1970

Remaining sessions are 'overflows' and topics of choice.

Reader

Here is the reader. To open it, you need an archive utility that can handle 7z archives.

Readings

• John Broome (2002): "Practical Reasoning." In Bermùdez, José and Millar, Alan (eds.): Reason and Nature: Essays in the Theory of Rationality, Oxford University Press, pp. 85–111.

• Ruth Chang (2002): The Possibility of Parity. Ethics, Vol. 112, No. 4 (July 2002), pp. 659-688.

• Joshua Gert (2004): Value and Parity. Ethics, Vol. 114, No. 3 (April 2004), pp. 492-510.

• John Harsanyi (1975): Can the Maximin Principle Serve as a Basis for Morality? A Critique of John Rawls's Theory. The American Political Science Review, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 594-606.

• John Stuart Mill (1863): Utilitarianism. Parker, Son, and Bouran, West Strand: London. (Please use the alternate pdf version, not the faksimile, for reading.)

• Wlodek Rabinowicz (2010): "Value Relations – Old Wine in New Barrels." Published online in Reboul, A. (ed.): Philosophical papers dedicated to Kevin Mulligan, Université de Genève, 2010. URL http://www.philosophie.ch/kevin/festschrift/

• George Schumm (1987): Transitivity, Preference and Indifference. Philosophical Studies, Vol. 52, pp. 435-437.

• Amartya Sen (1977): Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory. Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 317-344.

• Amartya Sen (1970): The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb., 1970), pp. 152-157.

• Amartya Sen (1995): Rationality and Social Choice. The American Economic Review, Vol. 85, No. 1 (March 1995), pp. 1-24.

• Larry Temkin (1987): Intransitivity and the Mere Addition Paradox, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Spring, 1987), pp. 138-187.

• Judith Thomson (1985): The Trolley Problem. The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 94, No. 6 (May, 1985), pp. 1395-1415

Contact

• Erich Rast

I can be found during workdays in the R&D building, 4th floor, from the elevator straight ahead to the left:

IFILNOVA Instituto de Filosofia da Nova (used to be IFL) Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas – Universidade Nova de Lisboa Av. de Berna, 26 - 4º piso 1069-061 Lisboa Work phone: 00 351 217908300 - Ext.1527 Secretary: