The Many Futures of a Decision

Description

Combining two a central topics in philosophy in the 20th Century, this book considers the ethics and impact of decision-making alongside the philosophy of time. When we make simple decisions, like the decision to wake up at 8 a.m. tomorrow, we make use of a linear model of the future. But when we make open-ended decisions, like the decision to get fitter, or more involved in politics, we presuppose a much more complex model of the future. We project a variety of virtual futures. We can carry out a decision in many different ways at once, which may converge and diverge at different points in time. Using a phenomenological approach, *The Many Futures of a Decision* explores what we learn about the structure of the future specifically from decision-making. Most theories of decision concentrate on the rationality: the evidence and value assessments that build up grounds for a rational decision. Instead, this book innovatively engages with the nature of the future as a multi-layered decisions project. Through interpretations of the theories of decision in philosophers like Husserl and Heidegger, Schmitt and Habermas, Derrida and Deleuze, along with other decision theories, Lampert develops an original theory of multiple futures. Review Jay Lampert has written a provocative book on the temporality of decisions. He intertwines the book's innovative insight with a masterly and clear treatment of major continental and analytic thinkers as well as with discussions of temporal logic, decision theory, quantum physics, and the Chinese game of Go. Lampert also considers the vital implications of his thesis for ethical responsibility, especially for an age in which fundamentalisms strive to crowd out more judicious and imaginative thought. It's a must read for scholars and theoreticians working on the relation between decision and time and will be of great interest to those concerned more generally with contemporary continental philosophy. -- Fred Evans, Professor of Philosophy, Duquesne University, USA Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: What is the temporal reference of a decision? The problem The method Other future-oriented noeses Preview of chapters Chapter 1. Sartre: Decisions and the unbound future Chapter 2. Husserl: Decisions and temporal overlap Chapter 3. Heidegger: The original decision to decide Chapter 4. Kierkegaard: Decisionism in religion. Infinite futures Chapter 5. Schmitt: Decisionism in politics. Sovereign moments. Habermas: Steering procedures and the term limits of a decision Chapter 6. Decision theory: Seriality effects on decision Chapter 7. Branching futures: Tense logic and multiple worlds Chapter 8. Hegel: Morality without decision. Derrida: Indecision Theory Chapter 9. Deleuze: Decision in the empty future. The virtual decision = X Conclusion Chapter One Sartre: Decisions and the unbound future Part 1. Will and the future De Beauvoir and Jaspers Nietzsche on promises Part 2. The diet: Breakfast and time William James Part 3. The diet: Lunch and the other Mbiti Postscript 1: Decisions are enacted otherwise than originally intended Postscript 2: The person addressed by the decision is different by the time it is enacted Chapter Two Husserl: Decisions and temporal overlap The noema of decisions The temporal noema of decisions Overlapping decisional futures Overlap Quasi-time Juxtaduration Supertemporality Decisional oscillations and retained countermotives Ockham Chapter Three Heidegger: The original decision to decide Chapter Four Kierkegaard: Decisionism in religion. Infinite futures Kierkegaard Pascal Kant’s postulate of hope The Egyptian book of the dead Sokolowski and Marion Chapter Five Schmitt: Decisionism in politics. Sovereign moments. Habermas: Steering procedures and the term limits of a decisi Schmitt Cardozo and legal decisionism Adorno and Derrida Habermas Luhmann Term limits Future generations Rawls’ argument against time preference Chapter Six Decision theory: Seriality effects on decision The Prisoner’s Dilemma Uncertainty and temporality Fuzziness Reversibility Improvisation Polyrhythm Uncertainty and systems theory Finance Go and AI: Does AlphaGo make decisions? Chapter Seven Branching futures: Tense logic and multiple worlds Tense logic Aristotle Agency Thomason on truth-value gaps Broad and McCall on branches Dummett on past and future: Realism versus anti-realism Flashforwards and time travel The Many Worlds interpretation of quantum physics Chapter Eight Hegel: Morality without decision. Derrida: Indecision Theory Hegel’s critique of decision Indecision theory The Turing decision problem Derrida on undecidability Chapter Nine Deleuze: Decision in the empty future. The virtual decision = X Is the future full or empty? Deleuze on future tense Object = X and decision = X Turning points Kant’s object = X Fichte’s = X Hegel’s = X Deleuze’s = X Husserl’s = X Dice throw Adam’s decision and incompossible world cycles David Lewis and possible worlds Afterword Notes Introduction: What is the temporal reference of a decision? 1 Sartre: Decisions and the unbound future 2 Husserl: Decisions and temporal overlap 3 Heidegger: The original decision to decide 4 Kierkegaard: Decisionism in religion. Infinite futures 5 Schmitt: Decisionism in politics. Sovereign moments. Habermas: Steering procedures and the term limits of a decision 6 Decision theory: Seriality effects on decision 7 Branching futures: Tense logic and multiple worlds 8 H egel: Morality without decision. Derrida: Indecision Theory 9 Deleuze: Decision in the empty future. The virtual decision = X Bibliography Index