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(F)utility Exposed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Roberto Fumagalli
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Abstract

In recent years, several authors have called to ground descriptive and normative decision theory on neuropsychological measures of utility. In this article, I combine insights from the best available neuropsychological findings, leading philosophical conceptions of welfare, and contemporary decision theory to rebut these prominent calls. I argue for two claims of general interest to philosophers, choice modelers and policy makers. First, severe conceptual, epistemic, and evidential problems plague ongoing attempts to develop accurate and reliable neuropsychological measures of utility. Second, even if these problems are solved, neuropsychological measures of utility lack the potential to directly inform welfare analyses and policy evaluations.

Type
Logic, Formal Epistemology, and Decision Theory
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 86 , Issue 5 , December 2019 , pp. 955 - 966
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

I received helpful feedback from participants at the 26th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (Seattle), the 92nd Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Association (Oxford), the 2018 Annual Conference of the tish Society for Philosophy of Science (Oxford), and the conference Neuroethics: Re-mapping the Field (Milan).

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