Rationality, Morality, and Impossibility Theorems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9440996 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Fred M Frohock (Syracuse University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 74 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 373-384 |
| Publication date | 1980-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1960633 |
| OpenAlex | W2325105423 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 41 |
The impossibility theorem developed by Kenneth Arrow has implications for both rationality and morality in political thought. Transitivity in a collective ordering can be assured only with a decisive set, but this outcome is acknowledged as morally undesirable. The alternatives exhibited by the theorem thus seem to require a choice between rationality and morality. But exit routes can be cut out of this dilemma with the idea of a conditional ordering, one where warranting factors attach to a ranking of alternatives. Conditional orderings form two senses of collective rationality. One is represented by compound directives, which avoid the rational problems of the theorem by warranting local orderings. The second is moral fusion, which requires a reasoned dominance in collective outcomes. These two forms of conditional rationality put into relief the restricted scope of the composition rules and individualism of Arrow's theorem, and suggest alternative relationships of individual and social whole
Arrow · Arrow's impossibility theorem · Economics · Epistemology · Impossibility · Law and economics · Mathematical economics · Morality · Outcome (game theory · Political science · Positive economics · Rationality · Social choice theory · Transitive relation · Computer Science · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Game Theory and Voting Systems · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics
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Reason and Morality
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Freedom and Reason
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2002 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |