Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2009
Summary
It is the profession of philosophers to question platitudes that others accept without thinking twice. A dangerous profession, since philosophers are more easily discredited than platitudes, but a useful one. For when a good philosopher challenges a platitude, it usually turns out that the platitude was essentially right; but the philosopher has noticed trouble that one who did not think twice could not have met. In the end the challenge is answered and the platitude survives, more often than not. But the philosopher has done the adherents of the platitude a service: he has made them think twice.
David K. Lewis, Convention (Harvard University Press, 1969)It is a platitude that decisions should be optimal; that is, that decision makers should make the best choice possible, given the available knowledge. But we cannot rationally choose an option, even if we do not know of anything better, unless we know that it is good enough. Satisficing, or being “good enough,” is the fundamental desideratum of rational decision makers – being optimal is a bonus.
Can a notion of being “good enough” be defined that is distinct from being best? If so, is it possible to formulate the concepts of being good enough for the group and good enough for the individuals that do not lead to the problems that exist with the notions of group optimality and individual optimality? This book explores these questions.
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- Satisficing Games and Decision MakingWith Applications to Engineering and Computer Science, pp. xiii - xviiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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