Choosing Well

Chrisoula Andreou is a Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Utah and an Executive Editor of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy. Her current research projects lie in the areas of Practical Reasoning, Action Theory, Ethical Theory, and Applied Ethics.

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter 1: Disorderly Preferences1.1 Cyclic Preferences, the Money-Pump Argument, and the Puzzle of the Self-Torturer1.2 Incomplete Preferences, Incommensurable Alternatives, and the Small-Improvement ArgumentChapter 2: Self-Defeating Self-Governance2.1 Self-Governance2.2 Self-Defeating Behavior2.3 The Satisfied Slice2.4 Strictly Self-Defeating Behavior2.5 A Complication2.6 ConclusionChapter 3: Instrumental Rationality Revamped3.1 A Puzzle about the Puzzle of the Self-Torturer3.2 The Real Puzzle of the Self-Torturer3.3 Rational Dilemmas3.4 The Moral Regarding Instrumental Rationality3.5 Making Sense of the Money-Pump ArgumentChapter 4: Parity4.1 Parity Illuminated4.2 Objections and Replies4.3 Insignificant and Momentous Choices4.4 Generalizing4.5 Parity without Rough Equality4.6 ConclusionChapter 5: Incomparability5.1 Incomparability and the Huge-Improvement Arguments5.2 A Complication5.3 ConclusionChapter 6: Betterness6.1 "Is Better Than" Versus "Is Rationally Preferred To"6.2 League-Based Satisficing6.3 In Defense of Divergence6.4 Morally Better Than6.5 ConclusionChapter 7: Resolutions and Regret upon Going Astray7.1 Planning Agency and the No-Regret Condition7.2 What's to Regret?7.3 No Regrets7.4 ConclusionChapter 8: Regret in Continued Endorsement Cases8.1 Regret, Monism, and Pluralism about the Good8.2 From Buttered Bagels to "EverBetter" Wine and Ever-So-Tempting Potato ChipsConclusion

I highly recommend Andreou's book to those interested in the central philosophical questions about instrumental rationality, dynamical rational choice, and diachronic agency. The book is slim, but it is packed with insightful philosophical discussions.