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A Simpler, More Compelling Money Pump with Foresight

Gustafsson, Johan E. and Rabinowicz, Wlodek LU (2020) In The Journal of Philosophy 117(10). p.578-589
Abstract
One might think that money pumps directed at agents with cyclic preferences can be avoided by foresight. This view was challenged two decades ago by the discovery of a money pump with foresight, which works against agents who use backward induction. But backward induction implausibly assumes that the agent would act rationally and retain her trust in her future rationality even at choice nodes that could only be reached if she were to act irrationally. This worry does not apply to BI-terminating decision problems, where at each choice node backward induction prescribes a move that terminates further action. For BI-terminating decision problems, it is enough to assume that rationality and trust in rationality are retained at choice nodes... (More)
One might think that money pumps directed at agents with cyclic preferences can be avoided by foresight. This view was challenged two decades ago by the discovery of a money pump with foresight, which works against agents who use backward induction. But backward induction implausibly assumes that the agent would act rationally and retain her trust in her future rationality even at choice nodes that could only be reached if she were to act irrationally. This worry does not apply to BI-terminating decision problems, where at each choice node backward induction prescribes a move that terminates further action. For BI-terminating decision problems, it is enough to assume that rationality and trust in rationality are retained at choice nodes reachable by rational moves. The old money pump with foresight was not BI-terminating. In this paper, we present a new money pump with foresight, one that is both BI-terminating and considerably simpler. (Less)
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author
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alternative title
En enklare. mer övertygande penningpump med förutseende
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
The Journal of Philosophy
volume
117
issue
10
pages
12 pages
publisher
Journal of Philosophy, Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85109079488
ISSN
0022-362X
DOI
10.5840/jphil20201171037
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3afbccea-332f-4e76-82e8-a55500b3b078
date added to LUP
2023-10-23 16:41:50
date last changed
2023-10-26 12:32:59
@article{3afbccea-332f-4e76-82e8-a55500b3b078,
  abstract     = {{One might think that money pumps directed at agents with cyclic preferences can be avoided by foresight. This view was challenged two decades ago by the discovery of a money pump with foresight, which works against agents who use backward induction. But backward induction implausibly assumes that the agent would act rationally and retain her trust in her future rationality even at choice nodes that could only be reached if she were to act irrationally. This worry does not apply to BI-terminating decision problems, where at each choice node backward induction prescribes a move that terminates further action. For BI-terminating decision problems, it is enough to assume that rationality and trust in rationality are retained at choice nodes reachable by rational moves. The old money pump with foresight was not BI-terminating. In this paper, we present a new money pump with foresight, one that is both BI-terminating and considerably simpler.}},
  author       = {{Gustafsson, Johan E. and Rabinowicz, Wlodek}},
  issn         = {{0022-362X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{578--589}},
  publisher    = {{Journal of Philosophy, Inc.}},
  series       = {{The Journal of Philosophy}},
  title        = {{A Simpler, More Compelling Money Pump with Foresight}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/jphil20201171037}},
  doi          = {{10.5840/jphil20201171037}},
  volume       = {{117}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}