Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T23:54:45.560Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Moral priorities under risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Chad Lee-Stronach
Chad Lee-Stronach*
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
*
Email: chad.lee-stronach@anu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many moral theories are committed to the idea that some kinds of moral considerations should be respected, whatever the cost to ‘lesser’ types of considerations. A person's life, for instance, should not be sacrificed for the trivial pleasures of others, no matter how many would benefit. However, according to the decision-theoretic critique of lexical priority theories, accepting lexical priorities inevitably leads us to make unacceptable decisions in risky situations. It seems that to operate in a risky world, we must reject lexical priorities altogether. This paper argues that lexical priority theories can, in fact, offer satisfactory guidance in risky situations. It does so by equipping lexical priority theories with overlooked resources from decision theory.

Keywords

Ethicslexical prioritydecision theoryriskethics of artificial intelligencepublic policy
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 48 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , pp. 793 - 811
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartha, Paul. 2007. “Taking Stock of Infinite Value: Pascal's Wager and Relative Utilities.” Synthese 154(1): 5–52. 10.1007/s11229-005-8006-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjorndahl, Adam, London, Alex John, and Zollman, Kevin J. S.. 2017. “Kantian Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Dignity, Price, and Consistency.” Philosopher's Imprint 17 (7): 1–23.Google Scholar
Briggs, R. A. 2017. “Normative Theories of Rational Choice: Expected Utility Theory.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Spring 2017 Edition. Edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/rationality-normative-utility/.Google Scholar
Broome, John. 2010. “No Argument Against the Continuity of Value: Reply to Dorsey.” Utilitas 22(4): 494–496. 10.1017/S0953820810000373CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, Erik. 2000. “Aggregating Harms – Should We Kill to Avoid Headaches?” Theoria 66(3): 246–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, Erik. 2001. “Organic Unities, Non-Trade-Off, and the Additivity of Intrinsic Value.” Journal of Ethics 5(4): 335–360. 10.1023/A:1013962220004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colyvan, Mark, Cox, Damian, and Steele, Katie. 2010. “Modelling the Moral Dimension of Decisions.” Noûs 44(3): 503–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hájek, Alan. 2003. “Waging War on Pascal's Wager.” The Philosophical Review 112(1): 27–56. 10.1215/00318108-112-1-27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansson, Sven Ove. 2013. The Ethics of Risk: Ethical Analysis in an Uncertain World. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9781137333650CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausner, Melvin. 1954. “Multidimensional Utilities.” In Decision Processes, edited by Thrall, R. M., Coombs, C. H. and Davis, R. L., 167–180. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.Google Scholar
Hawley, Patrick. 2008. “Moral Absolutism Defended.” Journal of Philosophy 105(5): 273–275. 10.5840/jphil2008105544CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayenhjelm, Madeleine, and Wolff, Jonathan. 2012. “The Moral Problem of Risk Impositions: A Survey.” European Journal of Philosophy 20(S1): E26–E51. 10.1111/ejop.2012.20.issue-s1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horty, John. 2012. Reasons as Defaults. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744077.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houy, Nicolas, and Tadenuma, Koichi. 2009. “Lexicographic Compositions of Multiple Criteria for Decision Making.” Journal of Economic Theory 144(4): 1770–1782. 10.1016/j.jet.2009.01.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huemer, Michael. 2010. “Lexical Priority and the Problem of Risk.” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 91(3): 332–351. 10.1111/papq.2010.91.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacs, Yoaav. 2014. “Duty and Knowledge.” Philosophical Perspectives 28(1): 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Frank, and Smith, Michael. 2006. “Absolutist Moral Theories and Uncertainty.” The Journal of Philosophy 103(6): 267–283. 10.5840/jphil2006103614CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Frank, and Smith, Michael. 2016. “The Implementation Problem for Deontology.” In Weighing Reasons, edited by Lord, Errol and Maguire, Barry, 338–354. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Joyce, James M. 1999. The Foundations of Causal Decision Theory. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511498497CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 2002. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Edited by Wood, Allen W.. New Haven; London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kyburg, H. E. 1961. Probability and the Logic of Rational Belief. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Lazar, Seth, and Lee-Stronach, Chad. 2017. “Axiological Absolutism and Risk.” Noûs: 1–17. doi: 10.1111/nous.12210.Google Scholar
Leitgeb, Hannes. 2014. “The Stability Theory of Belief.” Philosophical Review 123(2): 131–171. 10.1215/00318108-2400575CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Hanti. 2014. “On the Regress Problem of Deciding How to Decide.” Synthese 191(4): 661–670. 10.1007/s11229-014-0398-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Hanti, and Kelly, Kevin T.. 2012a. “A Geo-Logical Solution to the Lottery Paradox, With Applications to Conditional Logic.” Synthese 186: 531–575. 10.1007/s11229-011-9998-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Hanti, and Kelly, Kevin T.. 2012b. “Propositional Reasoning that Tracks Probabilistic Reasoning.” Journal of Philosophical Logic 41(6): 957–981. 10.1007/s10992-012-9237-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von, Neumann, J., and Morgenstern, O.. 1947. Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1974. “Some Reasons for the Maximin Criterion.” The American Economic Review 64(2): 141–146.Google Scholar
Raz, Joseph. 1999. Practical Reason and Norms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268345.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder, Mark, and Ross, Jacob. 2012. “Belief, Credence, and Pragmatic Encroachment.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 88(2): 1–30.Google Scholar
Smith, Nicholas J. J. 2014. “Is Evaluative Compositionality a Requirement of Rationality?” Mind 123(490): 457–502. 10.1093/mind/fzu072CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Temkin, Larry. 2012. Rethinking the Good. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar