Professor Richard Pettigrew (Bristol): 'From a Point of View'
The Faculty is delighted to welcome Professor Richard Pettigrew as the John Locke lecturer of 2025. Richard is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol.
Lecture 4: 'On Choosing how to Choose: the search for self-recommending theories of decision'
In Lecture 4, I turn from theoretical rationality to practical rationality, and I extend the teleological approach I’ve taken to the rationality of uncertain beliefs and apply it to the question of how we should decide what to do. I consider a broad range of different theories of rational choice, and raise a novel objection to all except the standard, orthodox expected utility theory: they are all, by their very own lights, suboptimal guides to action; there are alternatives to each theory that the theory itself takes to be better.
Further information about the John Locke Lectures can be found on the John Locke Lectures page
