Theory of Value Structure : From Values to Decisions

The theory of value structure concerns the meaning of "better than\u0022 and "good,\u0022 as well as the way in which values serve as a basis for rational decision making. Drawing methodologically from economics and theories of decision making, the aim of serious axiology in metaethics is to do justice to problems that have puzzled philosophers of value for centuries. Can value comparisons be cyclic? Are all values comparable with each other and can decision makers just add up different aspects of an evaluation to determine the best course of action? A Theory of Value Structure: From Values to Decisions starts with a thorough introduction to the modeling of "better than\u0022 comparisons from a normative perspective. In the philosophical part of the book, Erich H. Rast argues that aspects of "better than\u0022 comparisons can differ qualitatively so much that one aspect may outrank another. Consequently, the classical weighted sum aggregation model fails. Values cannot always be summed up and comparisons may

be fundamentally noncompensatory, an indeterminacy that explains problems like the apparent nontransitivity of "better than\u0022 and hard cases in decision making. Using a lexicographic method of value comparisons, Rast develops a multidimensional theory of "better than\u0022 and shows how and to which extent it can be combined with standard methods of decision making under uncertainty by using rank-dependent utility theory. [Publisher's text]

449139 characters.