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- Title
The Agent-Relative Probability Threshold of Hope.
- Authors
Williams, Bekka
- Abstract
Nearly all contributors to the philosophical analysis of hope agree that if an agent hopes that p, she both desires that p and assigns to p a probability which is greater than zero, but less than one. According to the widely-endorsed Standard Account, these two conditions are also (jointly) sufficient for 'hoping that'. Ariel Meirav has recently argued, however, that the Standard Account fails to distinguish hoping for a prospect from despairing of it - due to cases where two agents equally desire an outcome and assign to it the same probability, yet one hopes for the outcome while the other despairs of it. I argue, against Meirav, that these putative counterexamples depend crucially on the assumption - previously unquestioned - that the degree of probability necessary for hope is invariant across individuals. If the probability threshold is instead understood as agent-relative, the difficulty disappears. Further, I argue that there is strong independent reason for taking the probability threshold of hope to be agent-relative, based on similarities to the widely-accepted agent-relative probability thresholds of industriousness and risk aversion. And I conclude by noting how the agent-relative modification to the Standard Account is better equipped than is Meirav's positive view to yield intuitive results.
- Subjects
HOPE; PHILOSOPHY; AGENT (Philosophy); PROBABILITY theory; CONDUCT of life; RISK aversion
- Publication
Ratio, 2013, Vol 26, Issue 2, p179
- ISSN
0034-0006
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/rati.12001