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Arbitrariness

About: Arbitrariness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1058 publications have been published within this topic receiving 14882 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors show that initial valuations of familiar products and simple hedonic experiences are strongly influenced by arbitrary "anchors" (sometimes derived from a person's social security number) and that subsequent valuations are also coherent with respect to salient differences in perceived quality or quantity of these products and experiences.
Abstract: In six experiments we show that initial valuations of familiar products and simple hedonic experiences are strongly influenced by arbitrary “anchors” (sometimes derived from a person’s social security number). Because subsequent valuations are also coherent with respect to salient differences in perceived quality or quantity of these products and experiences, the entire pattern of valuations can easily create an illusion of order, as if it is being generated by stable underlying preferences. The experiments show that this combination of coherent arbitrariness (1) cannot be interpreted as a rational response to information, (2) does not decrease as a result of experience with a good, (3) is not necessarily reduced by market forces, and (4) is not unique to cash prices. The results imply that demand curves estimated from market data need not reveal true consumer preferences, in any normatively significant sense of the term.

1,381 citations

MonographDOI
TL;DR: The Incentives Argument for Inequality: A Necessary Evil as discussed by the authors is based on the Difference Principle, which states that "the personal is political" and "the difference principle is not a moral principle".
Abstract: * Preface * Introduction * The Big Issue * Rescuing Equality and Justice * Some Methodological Disagreements * Justice and Fairness * The Two Standpoints * The Greatness of John Rawls * An Outline of the Book Part One: Rescuing Equality from... 1. The Incentives Argument I. The Incentives Argument, The Interpersonal Test, and Community * Incentives, the Difference Principle, and Equality * Nigel Lawson's Tax Cut * On Uttering Arguments in Variable Interpersonal Settings * The Kidnapper's Argument * Community, and the Interpersonal Test * Does the Incentive Argument Pass the Interpersonal Test? II. Testing the Incentive Argument * What Makes the Minor Premiss of the Incentive Argument True? * Why the Incentive Argument Fails the Interpersonal Test * The Incentive Argument and Bad Faith * Should the Poor Reject the Incentive Argument? * First Persons and Third Persons III. Incentives and the Difference Principle * Strict and Lax Readings of the Difference Principle * Why Just People Must Practise the Strict Difference Principle * The Difference Principle and "Daily Life" * Dignity, Fraternity, and The Difference Principle * The Difference Principle and "Mutual Indifference" * The Difference Principle and the Unjust Society 2. The Pareto Argument for Inequality * Introduction * The Argument Expounded * The Argument Challenged * The Argument Rejected * Labour Burden in the Metric of Equality * Inconsistent Metrics * Raising the Baseline * Impartiality and Mutual Advantage * Inequality: A Necessary Evil? * Conclusion 3. The Basic Structure Objection *"The Personal is Political" * Incentives and the Difference Principle: A Review of the Argument * The "Basic Structure" Objection * The "Basic Structure" Objection: A Preliminary Reply * The "Basic Structure" Objection: A More Fundamental Reply * Who is to Blame? * Coercive and Non-Coercive Social Structures * Appendix I. More on Coercion and the Basic Structure * Appendix II. The Basic Structure is a Structure 4. The Difference Principle * Introduction * Reconsidering the Difference Principle * The Moral Arbitrariness Case for the Difference Principle Contradicts its Content * A Recent Argument for the Difference Principle * A Contractarian Argument for the Difference Principle * What is the Moral Arbitrariness of Talent Differences Supposed to Show? * Chamberlain and Pareto *"Can't" or "Won't" * Human Nature and Constructivism 5. The Freedom Objection * Introduction * Equality, Pareto, and Freedom of Choice of Occupation * Equality, Pareto, and Rawlsian Liberty * Equality, Pareto, and Freedom in Work * The Unequal-Income Inference * Blood, Kidneys, and Sex 6. The Facts * A Statement of my Thesis * Facts, and Some Meta-Ethical Questions * What Most Philosophers Think about Facts and Principles * My Thesis: Ultimate Principles are Fact-Insensitive and the Clarity of Mind Requirement * An Illustration of the Thesis * More Illustration of the Thesis * The Argument for the Thesis *(i). A Defence of the First Premiss of the Argument *(ii). A Defence of the Second Premiss of the Argument *(iii). A Defence of the Third Premiss of the Argument * Still Further Illustration and Defence of the Thesis * The Clarity of Mind Requirement * The Merely Logical Priority of Fact-Insensitive Principles * The Conditional Character of the Thesis * On "Is" and "Ought" * On "Ought" and "Can" * Possible Misunderstandings of the Thesis * The Thesis is not a Causal Thesis * The Thesis is not a Psychological Thesis * The Thesis is Neutral with Respect to Central Meta-Ethical Disputes * Some Bad Rawlsian Arguments that Reject My Thesis * Utilitarianism, and the Difference Between Fundamental Principles and Rules of Regulation * The Interest of My Thesis * Appendix: God Part Two: Rescuing Justice from... 7. Constructivism * Introduction, and Preliminary Overview * Fundamental Principles of Justice and Constructivism * Fundamental Principles of Justice and Constructivism: Matters Arising * Is Justice the First Virtue of Social Institutions? * Two Illustrations: Social Insurance, Property Taxation * Justice and the Pareto Principle * Justice, and Constraints, Notably Publicity, on Choice of Optimal Rules at Regulation * Justice and Stability * The "Circumstances of Justice" * Conclusion * Appendix: Is the Original Position Justification of Principles Contractarian? 8. The Publicity Argument * Andrew Williams on Publicity and the Egalitarian Ethos * An Anatomy of Williams's Argument * Racism, Justice, and Assurance * Does Assurance Williams-type Determinacy? * Does Justice Require Precision? * Egalitarian Ethi at Home, in the Market, and in the State * Publicity as a Desideratum of Justice * Justice and Occupational Choice * Conclusion General Appendix: Replies to critics * Public and Private Action * The Site of Justice is not Where it Gets Caused * Prior Principles, Self-Respect, and Equality * Incentives and Prerogatives * Pogge's Mastergoals and Supergoals * Pogge's Failure to Address the Standard Case * The Currency of Distributive Justice and Incentive Inequality * Earlier Discussions of Rawls on Incentives

1,017 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that synergy (or its negative counterpart, antagonism) between two or more causes of disease ought to be evaluated in reference to a specific yardstick, with effect defined as excess risk.
Abstract: Readers of the American Journal of Epidemiology have seen a lively discourse on the topic of synergy, a major conceptual area in epidemiology for which there exists fundamental controversy as to definitions. In 1974, one of us (KJR) (1) proposed that synergy (or its negative counterpart, antagonism) between two or more causes of disease ought to be evaluated in reference to a specific yardstick. The reference point was one that equated independence of the causes with the situation in which the joint effect was equal to the sum of the separate effects, with effect defined as excess risk. Rothman emphasized the distinction between biologic and statistical interaction, arguing that biologic interaction, unlike statistical interaction, could not be defined with arbitrariness in the choice of scale of measurement.

895 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 1975-Language
TL;DR: The authors examines some historical processes in ASL and shows that there is a strong tendency for signs to change in the direction of arbitrariness, rather than maintaining a level of iconicity.
Abstract: Grammarians since Saussure have insisted that language symbols are arbitrary, though conventionalized, in form. Sign languages in general, however, and American Sign Language (ASL) in particular, have been noted for their pantomimic or iconic nature. This paper examines some historical processes in ASL, and shows that there is a strong tendency for signs to change in the direction of arbitrariness, rather than maintaining a level of iconicity. Changes at the formational level can be seen as contributing to language-internal consistency, at the expense of transparency.*

492 citations

Book
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The 1993 and 1996 Constitutions introduced a new set of norms for the South African legal system: equality, freedom and human dignity have replaced racism, caprice and arbitrariness as guiding principles as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The 1993 and 1996 Constitutions introduced a new set of norms for the South African legal system: equality, freedom and human dignity have replaced racism, caprice and arbitrariness as guiding principles. This work analyzes the fundamental values upon which the new democratic legal order in South Africa is based. It examines the challenges posed by these developments to legal practice and scholarship and concludes that lawyers have adopted an approach of "business as usual" to the new order.

400 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202371
2022155
202148
202042
201947
201843