Breakdown of Will / Edition 1

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More About This Textbook

Overview

"In this book, the researcher who originally proposed hyperbolic discounting theory presents new findings that confirm its validity and describes implications that undermine our most basic assumptions about how self-control works. Hyperbolic discounting theory has provoked much recent controversy in psychology, economics, and the philosophy of mind. It begins with an experimental finding: People devalue a given future event at different rates, depending on how far away it is. This phenomenon means that our preferences are inherently unstable and entails our present selves being pitted against what we can expect our future selves to want. Although the notion of temporary preferences upsets conventional utility theory, it offers radical solutions to problems that have defeated utility theory: Why do people knowingly participate in addictions, compulsions, and bad habits? What is the nature of will? What makes a will weak or strong? Do we in fact need a concept of will at all?" "This book integrates approaches from experimental psychology, philosophy of mind, microeconomics, and decision science. It will be of interest to philosophers concerned with the mind and action theory. By questioning some of the basic assumptions held by social scientists about rational choice, it should be a resource for professionals and students in psychology, economics, and political science."--BOOK JACKET.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"Breakdown of Will advances a novel position on motivation, the will, and the will's failures and successes." Alfred Mele, Department of Philosophy, Davidson College, North Carolina

"Breakdown of Will should interest many philosophers of pyschology...there are interesting and important ideas within the text, and it should spur fruitful philosophical discussion." Philosophy in Review

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780521596947
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • Publication date: 3/28/2001
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 272
  • Sales rank: 1,167,256
  • Product dimensions: 5.98 (w) x 8.98 (h) x 0.63 (d)

Table of Contents

Preface
Pt. I Breakdowns of Will: the Puzzle of Akrasia
1 Introduction 3
2 The Dichotomy at the Root of Decision Science: Do We Make Choices By Desires or By Judgments? 13
3 The Warp in How We Evaluate the Future 27
4 The Warp Can Create Involuntary Behaviors: Pains, Hungers, Emotions 48
Pt. II A Breakdown of the Will: the Components of Intertemporal Bargaining
5 The Elementary Interaction of Interests 73
6 Sophisticated Bargaining among Internal Interests 90
7 The Subjective Experience of Intertemporal Bargaining 105
8 Getting Evidence about a Nonlinear Motivational System 117
Pt. III The Ultimate Breakdown of Will: Nothing Fails Like Success
9 The Downside of Willpower 143
10 An Efficient Will Undermines Appetite 161
11 The Need to Maintain Appetite Eclipses the Will 175
12 Conclusions 198
Notes 201
References 227
Name Index 247
Subject Index 253
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