Allingham - Choice Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Choice Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Michael Allingham

A Very Short Introduction

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Michael Allingham 2002

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First published as a Very Short Introduction 2002

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ISBN 0-19-280303-4

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Albert Einstein introduces his brilliant exposition, Relativity, in the following terms.

The present book is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics. The work presumes a standard of education corresponding to that of a university matriculation examination, and, despite the shortness of the book, a fair amount of patience and force of will on the part of the reader. The author has spared himself no pains in his endeavour to present the main ideas in the simplest and most intelligible form.... May the book bring some one a few happy hours of suggestive thought!

Apart from substituting choice for relativity and logic for physics I can find no better way to express the aim of this book.

Choice theory explores the reasoning which underlies coherent patterns of choice: it explores what it means to act rationally. Why is this important? As Aristotle reminds us, the origin of action is choice, and that of choice is desire and reasoning... good action and its opposite cannot exist without a combination of intellect and character. Choice theory develops the intellectual reasoning which is necessary for good action: the character which is also necessary for this is up to you.

The book is short not because it covers a small territory, but because it does not go into exhaustive detail of the territory which it does cover. Many interesting sights are mentioned, but in many cases only incomplete directions are given for finding them: the book is more a guide than a gazetteer. Many arguments are missing, or only sketched: the reader may like to supply, or complete, these, and would do well to do so where this is suggested by phrases such as it is easy to see that. The notes at the end of the book indicate where help may be found, and also warn of the ascents which even the more intrepid explorer might be unwise to attempt. A number of open questions and paradoxes are raised but not resolved, though guidelines which might help the reader find his own resolution are indicated: the reader must take his own views on such matters.

I am grateful to Shelley Cox of Oxford University Press for suggesting that I write this book and for commenting on the manuscript, and to those of my family and friends who too have provided comments. I am also grateful to the University of Siena for providing an ideal ambience in which to reflect on the underlying ideas, and to Magdalen College for giving me a period of leave in which to transform these into words.

The Choice of Hercules
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A menu
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

A family tree of choice theory

The Thinker
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A map of choice under certainty

A compound gamble

Alcove not winning
Satellite Information Services, London

A map of choice under uncertainty

A utility schedule

Roulette
Corbis

Gambling and insuring

The Game of Draughts
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A map of strategic choice

A ballot paper
AP Photo

A map of group choice

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase... Choose your future. Choose life.

But why should I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons?

Thus the opening voice-over of the film Trainspotting. But is the speaker, one Renton, choosing rationally? His choice of something else rather than life is his concern: it may not be my choice or yours, but it cannot, by itself, be irrational. De gustibus non disputandam est, as they say. But his claiming to have no reason is a different matter for, as language suggests and as we shall see, there is an intimate connection between reason and rationality. Indeed, Renton himself soon provides a reason:

People think its all about misery and desperation and death and all that shite, which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldnt do it. After all, were not stupid. At least, were not that stupid.

And, with an enviable practicality, he continues:

When youre on junk you have only one worry: scoring. When youre off it you have to worry about all sorts of other shite. Got no money: cant get pished. Got money: drinking too much. Cant get a bird: no chance of a ride. Got a bird: too much hassle. You have to worry about bills, about food, about some football team that never wins, about human relationships and all the things that really dont matter.

All choices, just as Rentons, arise from both the heart and the head. The heart provides the passion and the head the reasons. Choices based on the most minute reasoning but lacking any desire are vacuous. But desire without reason is impotent: it is fit only for the enraged child who wants both to go home and not to go home.