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Thank goodness that’s Newcomb: The practical relevance of the temporal value asymmetry

Abstract:

I describe a thought experiment in which an agent must choose between suffering a greater pain in the past or a lesser pain in the future. This case demonstrates that the ‘temporal value asymmetry’ – our disposition to attribute greater significance to future pleasures and pains than to past – can have consequences for the rationality of actions as well as attitudes. This fact, I argue, blocks attempts to vindicate the temporal value asymmetry as a useful heuristic tied to the asymmetry of ca...

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Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1093/analys/anx108

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
Humanities Division
Department:
Philosophy
Department:
Unknown
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-6324-7145
Publisher:
Oxford University Press Publisher's website
Journal:
Analysis Journal website
Volume:
77
Issue:
4
Pages:
750–759
Publication date:
2017-08-02
Acceptance date:
2017-05-02
DOI:
EISSN:
1467-8284
ISSN:
0003-2638
Language:
English
Pubs id:
pubs:969039
UUID:
uuid:3adbf270-a999-4ab0-9b02-05c6586b9aec
Local pid:
pubs:969039
Source identifiers:
969039
Deposit date:
2019-02-06

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