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Some Unresolved Problems in the Theory of Rational Behaviour

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dc.contributor.author Elster, Jon en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2009-07-31T14:54:08Z
dc.date.available 2009-07-31T14:54:08Z
dc.date.issued 1993 en_US
dc.date.submitted 2008-03-17 en_US
dc.date.submitted 2008-03-17 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/10535/2821
dc.description.abstract "In an article written in 1977 the author offered a survey of unresolved problems in rational choice theory. The present paper is an attempt to rethink this issue. On the one hand, it emphasizes the question of indeterminacy, i.e. situations in which the rational choice is not well defined. The paradoxes of backward induction find their place here, as do the existence and importance of genuine uncertainty (as distinct from risk). On the other hand, the article discusses the question whether preferences can be said to be rational. Examples include time preferences, attitudes to risk, regret and the 'taste for fairness.' The examples are chosen with a view to showing that rational choice theory is not a predictive theory, hut essentially a hermeneutic one. As part of the enterprise of self-understanding, the construction of rationality is partly discovery and partly decision. There is no right answer to all questions." en_US
dc.subject decision making en_US
dc.subject behavior en_US
dc.title Some Unresolved Problems in the Theory of Rational Behaviour en_US
dc.type Journal Article en_US
dc.type.published published en_US
dc.subject.sector Theory en_US
dc.identifier.citationjournal Acta Sociologica en_US
dc.identifier.citationvolume 36 en_US
dc.identifier.citationnumber 3 en_US
dc.identifier.citationmonth January en_US
dc.submitter.email rshivakoti@yahoo.com en_US


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