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The real puzzle of the self-torturer: uncovering a new dimension of instrumental rationality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Chrisoula Andreou
Chrisoula Andreou*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
*
Email: c.andreou@utah.edu
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Abstract

The puzzle of the self-torturer raises intriguing questions concerning rationality, cyclic preferences, and resoluteness. Interestingly, what makes the case puzzling has not been clearly pinpointed. The puzzle, it seems, is that a series of rational choices foreseeably leads the self-torturer to an option that serves his preferences worse than the one with which he started. But this is a very misleading way of casting the puzzle. I pinpoint the real puzzle of the self-torturer and, in the process, reveal a neglected but crucial dimension of instrumental rationality.

Keywords

Cyclic preferencesinstrumental rationalityintransitivitypuzzle of the self-torturerresolutenessvaguenessWarren Quinn
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 45 , Issue 5-6: Special Issue: Belief, Action, and Rationality over Time , December 2015 , pp. 562 - 575
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2015

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