May 29, 2009
45 rue d'Ulm - Paris
Salle des Actes
Workshop description
Various connections exist between decision theory and the topic of vagueness. Preferences can be vague or fuzzy,
for
instance when agents do not perfectly discriminate between their
options. The indifference relation is then typically non-transitive,
contrary to standard assumptions on rationality. One aspect of the
workshop will be the discussion of non-transitive structures used in
decision-theory (such as semi-orders and their generalizations, see
Luce), and their correspondence with models of vagueness put forward in
the philosophical literature to
model the notions of similarity and imperfect indiscriminability
(Goodman, Williamson). Other
connections between decision and vagueness will be discussed, such as
the use of choice functions to deal with comparison and semantic
vagueness, the role of decision for the resolution of vagueness in
communication, or the articulation between decision and perception in
psychological models of discrimination based on decision theory (such
as signal detection theory). The aim of the workshop is to promote
dialogue between philosophers, economists and linguists interested in
these issues.
