Kenneth Arrow, Economics Department
TITLE: The Subject Matter of Social Choice Theory
ABSTRACT:
More questions will be asked than answers given. Social choice theory has both normative and descriptive implications. The normative viewpoint is itself complicated. (1) If individuals are rational, "normative" and "descriptive" overlap. (2) Can rationality be ascribed to collectivities? (3) How is social choice theory related to political philosophy?
Descriptively, one can apply social choice thinking to elections (where intransitivities can sometimes be inferred), to legislation (agenda control), or to judicial procedures.
NOTE:
This is a joint event with the Seminar in Logical Methods in the Humanities:
The Logic and Mathematics of Voting Procedures (website~epacuit/lmh/).