Suchergebnisse

I. Preference Orderings and Utility Theory -- 1. Relational Systems -- 2. Preference Relations -- 3. Some Remarks on Utility Theory -- 4. Linear Inequalities -- II. Ordinal Utility -- 1. Some Classical Representation Theorems -- 2. Lexicographic Utility -- 3. Utility Theories with Respect to n?-Sets -- 4. Ultraproducts and Ultrapowers -- 5. Approximating an r*-Valued Utility Function by a Real Valued Function -- 6. Non-Standard Utility Functions Always Exist -- 7. Utility Functions for Partial Orderings -- III. On Numerical Relational Systems -- 1. First-Order Languages -- 2. Some Preliminary Considerations -- 3. Universal and Homogeneous Relational Systems -- 4. Saturated Relational Systems -- IV. Utility Theories for More Structured Empirical Data -- 1. Some Remarks -- 2. The Empirical Status of Axioms -- 3. Utility Theories which are Axiomatizable in an Ordinary First Order Language -- 4. Extensive Utility -- 5. Conjoint Measurement of Utilities -- 6. On Certain Mean Systems -- V. On Utility Spaces, The Theory of Games and the Realization of Comparative Probability Relations -- 1. A Generalization of the Von Neumann/Morgenstern Utility Theory -- 2. Non-Standard Utilities in Game Theory -- 3. Some Aspects of the Realization of Comparative Probability Relations -- Appendix I. Ordinal and Cardinal Numbers -- Appendix II. Some Basic Facts about Filters and Ultrafilters -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.

In his book The War Trap Bruce Bueno de Mesquita claims to offer a deductive theory of international conflict based on the assumption that foreign policy makers attempt to maximize their expected utility. The theory is subjected to a systematic empirical test that seems to provide impressive confirmation. The first part of this article examines Bueno de Mesquita's theory and argues that it cannot be derived from his assumptions. The second part examines the operational version of the theory, which was the one actually tested, and argues that it can be more plausibly interpreted as a version of a different theory—one that Bueno de Mesquita claims to have discredited. The essay concludes by discussing the significance of this book with regard to the question of whether theories of individual rational choice can explain foreign policy decisions.

Vilfredo Pareto's contribution to modem economic theory is today universally recognized, but to my mind his particular contribution to utility theory is not sufficiently understood. In the following paragraphs I intend to give an assessment and evaluation of Paretian thought on this important topic. It seems that Pareto' s contribution to utility theory originated as a reaction to the attitude of Walras and the Austrian School of.Economists to this same theory. The latter thought that utility theory, as they understood it, was a sort of ultimate truth, a key to all the secrets of pure economics. Consequently they placed such an emphasis on it that they induced Pareto and the Paretians to do their best to demolish it. Such was their eagerness that some even held that this departure constituted Pareto's main contribution to economic theory. ; N/A

Some important philosophical issues to do with truth, meaning and translation are raised if we attempt to take the language of business seriously. There may be difficulties associated with trying to make sense of what this would amount to, but a preliminary exploration of the territory provides interesting perspectives on business ethics and on the philosophy of language. When we decide that we know what another speaker is saying, we are simultaneously making decisions about the way the world is, the structure of the speaker's language and the speaker's veracity. Since there is an irreducible ethical dimension to translation, a decision to `translate' business language as ethical, but simply having different truth values, is not going to be `right' or `wrong' except in the context of an ethical stance taken by the translator. In other words, it is no different from a decision to adjust one's ethical position into conformity with the values apparently embedded in business practice.