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John Broome The mutual determination of wants and benefits article The degree to which I want something often affects the amount of pleasure or other benefit it will bring me if I get it. This, in turn, should affect the degree to which I want it. In the “Journal of Philosophy”, 89 (1992) 10-29, Anna Kusser and Wolfgang Spohn argue that decision theory cannot cope with this mutual determination of wants and benefits. This paper argues, to the contrary, that decision theory can cope with it easily.

The mutual determination of wants and benefits

John Broome

Theory and decision, vol. 37, no. 3, 1994, pp. 333–338

Abstract

The degree to which I want something often affects the amount of pleasure or other benefit it will bring me if I get it. This, in turn, should affect the degree to which I want it. In the “Journal of Philosophy”, 89 (1992) 10-29, Anna Kusser and Wolfgang Spohn argue that decision theory cannot cope with this mutual determination of wants and benefits. This paper argues, to the contrary, that decision theory can cope with it easily.

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