Frege’s puzzle and the ex ante Pareto principle
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21370971 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anna Mahtani (0000-0003-1581-4325, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 178 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 2077-2100 |
| Publication date | 2021-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8116 • E-ISSN: 1573-0883 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11098-020-01524-w |
| OpenAlex | W3080813955 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 23 |
The ex ante Pareto principle has an intuitive pull, and it has been a principle of central importance since Harsanyi’s defence of utilitarianism (to be found in e.g. Harsanyi, Rational behaviour and bargaining equilibrium in games and social situations. CUP, Cambridge, 1977). The principle has been used to criticize and refine a range of positions in welfare economics, including egalitarianism and prioritarianism. But this principle faces a serious problem. I have argued elsewhere (Mahtani, J Philos 114(6):303-323 2017) that the concept of ex ante Pareto superiority is not well defined, because its application in a choice situation concerning a fixed population can depend on how the members of that population are designated. I show in this paper that in almost all cases of policy choice, there will be numerous sets of rival designators for the same fixed population. I explore two ways that we might complete the definition of ex ante Pareto superiority. I call these the ‘supervaluationist’ reading and the ‘subvaluationist’ reading. I reject the subvaluationist reading as uncharitable, and argue that the supervaluationist reading is the most promising interpretation of the ex ante Pareto principle. I end by exploring some of the implications of this principle for prioritarianism and egalitarianism
Correspondence principle (sociology) · Economics · Egalitarianism · Epistemology · Ex-ante · Interpretation (philosophy) · Mathematical economics · Microeconomics · Pareto principle · Political science · Population · Reading (process) · Sociology · Utilitarianism · Welfare economics · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics
Translations from the philosophical writings of Gottlob Frege
Rational Behaviour and Bargaining Equilibrium in Games and Social Situations
V.—Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description
Naming and Necessity
Priority or Equality for Possible People?
The Oxford Handbook of Distributive Justice
Distributive Equality
Epistemic Modality De Re
Equality Versus Priority
Theories of Justice
Illogical Belief
Prioritarianism
Quantification and Epistemic Modality
Sense and Reference
Assessing Risky Social Situations
Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparison of Utility
Uncertainty and Fairness
Aggregation, Complaints, and Risk
Contractualism and Social Risk
Why It Matters That Some Are Worse Off Than Others
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |