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Preferences: neither behavioural nor mental

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Francesco Guala
Francesco Guala*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Festa del Perdono 7, 20136 Milano, Italy
*
Email: francesco.guala@unimi.it.
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Abstract

Recent debates on the nature of preferences in economics have typically assumed that they are to be interpreted either as behavioural regularities or as mental states. In this paper I challenge this dichotomy and argue that neither interpretation is consistent with scientific practice in choice theory and behavioural economics. Preferences are belief-dependent dispositions with a multiply realizable causal basis, which explains why economists are reluctant to make a commitment about their interpretation.

Keywords

Preferencechoicebehavioural economicsdispositionsmental states
Type
Article
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , November 2019 , pp. 383 - 401
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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