Course Info. Ideas. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically. —quoted from Ch.5, The Paradox of Choice, 2004 Schwartz's thesis[edit] Schwartz assembles his argument from a variety of fields of modern psychology that study how happiness is affected by success or failure of goal achievement. When we choose[edit] Schwartz compares the various choices that Americans face in their daily lives by comparing the selection of choices at a supermarket to the variety of classes at an Ivy League college. There are now several books and magazines devoted to what is called the "voluntary simplicity" movement.
Schwartz maintains that it is precisely so that we can focus on our own wants that all of these choices emerged in the first place. How we choose[edit] The Illusion Of Choice | Similar Media Sources web? Game Theory This article sketches the basic concepts of the theory of games in order to discuss some of their philosophical implications and problems. Consider the following situation: when two hunters set out to hunt a stag and lose track of each other in the process, each hunter has to make a decision.
Either she continues according to plan, hoping that her partner does likewise (because she cannot bag a deer on her own), and together they catch the deer; or she goes for a hare instead, securing a prey that does not require her partner’s cooperation, and thus abandoning the common plan. Each hunter prefers a deer shared between them to a hare for herself alone. But if she decides to hunt for deer, she faces the possibility that her partner abandons her, leaving her without deer or hare. Situations like this, in which the outcome of an agent’s action depends on the actions of all the other agents involved, are called interactive.
Table of Contents 1. A. Figure 1: The stag hunt Solution Concepts.