CONSTRUCTIVIST AND ECOLOGICAL MODELING OF GROUP RATIONALITY

Episteme ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Gaus
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Ecological Modeling ◽  
Judgment Aggregation ◽  
Ecological Approach ◽  
Rational Agency ◽  
Group Agency ◽  
Discursive Dilemma

AbstractThese brief remarks highlight three aspects of Christian List and Philip Pettit's Group Agency: The Possibility, Design, and Status of Corporate Agents that illustrate its constructivist nature: (i) its stress on the discursive dilemma as a primary challenge to group rationality and reasoning; (ii) its general though qualified support for premise-based decision-making as the preferred way to cope with the problems of judgment aggregation; and (iii) its account of rational agency and moral responsibility. The essay contrasts List and Pettit's constructivist analysis of group rationality with an ecological approach, inspired by social theorists such as F A. Hayek, Vernon L. Smith and Gerd Gigerenzer.

JUDGMENT AGGREGATION AND SUBJECTIVE DECISION-MAKING

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael K. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Judgment Aggregation ◽  
Original Model ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Discursive Dilemma ◽  
Unanimity Rule ◽  
Key Innovation ◽  
General Impossibility ◽  
Normative Argument

I present an original model in judgment aggregation theory that demonstrates the general impossibility of consistently describing decision-making purely at the group level. Only a type of unanimity rule can guarantee a group decision is consistent with supporting reasons, and even this possibility is limited to a small class of reasoning methods. The key innovation is that this result holds when individuals can reason in different ways, an allowance not previously considered in the literature. This generalizes judgment aggregation to subjective decision situations, implying that the discursive dilemma persists without individual agreement on the logical constraints. Notably, the model mirrors the typical method of choosing political representatives, and thus suggests that no voting procedure other than unanimity rule can guarantee representation that reflects electorate opinion. Finally, I apply the results to a normative argument for unanimity rule in contract theory and juries, as well as to problems posed for deliberative democratic theory and the concept of representation.

scholarly journals The Problem of the First Belief: Group Agents and Responsibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Onni Hirvonen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Moral Community ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Group Agency ◽  
Group Agents

AbstractAttributing moral responsibility to an agent requires that the agent is a capable member of a moral community. Capable members of a moral community are often thought of as moral reasoners (or moral persons) and, thus, to attribute moral responsibility to collective agents would require showing that they are capable of moral reasoning. It is argued here that those theories that understand collective reasoning and collective moral agency in terms of collective decision-making and commitment – as is arguably the case with Christian List and Philip Pettit’s theory of group agency – face the so-called “problem of the first belief” that threatens to make moral reasoning impossible for group agents. This paper introduces three possible solutions to the problem and discusses the effects that these solutions have in regard to the possibility of attributing moral responsibility to groups.

scholarly journals UK consultants’ experiences of the decision-making process around referral to intensive care: an interview study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e044752
Author(s):  
Kaja Heidenreich ◽  
Anne-Marie Slowther ◽  
Frances Griffiths ◽  
Anders Bremer ◽  
Mia Svantesson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Critically Ill ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Critically Ill Patient ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Moral Duties

ObjectiveThe decision whether to initiate intensive care for the critically ill patient involves ethical questions regarding what is good and right for the patient. It is not clear how referring doctors negotiate these issues in practice. The aim of this study was to describe and understand consultants’ experiences of the decision-making process around referral to intensive care.DesignQualitative interviews were analysed according to a phenomenological hermeneutical method.Setting and participantsConsultant doctors (n=27) from departments regularly referring patients to intensive care in six UK hospitals.ResultsIn the precarious and uncertain situation of critical illness, trust in the decision-making process is needed and can be enhanced through the way in which the process unfolds. When there are no obvious right or wrong answers as to what ought to be done, how the decision is made and how the process unfolds is morally important. Through acknowledging the burdensome doubts in the process, contributing to an emerging, joint understanding of the patient’s situation, and responding to mutual moral duties of the doctors involved, trust in the decision-making process can be enhanced and a shared moral responsibility between the stake holding doctors can be assumed.ConclusionThe findings highlight the importance of trust in the decision-making process and how the relationships between the stakeholding doctors are crucial to support their moral responsibility for the patient. Poor interpersonal relationships can damage trust and negatively impact decisions made on behalf of a critically ill patient. For this reason, active attempts must be made to foster good relationships between doctors. This is not only important to create a positive working environment, but a mechanism to improve patient outcomes.

scholarly journals CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND JUDGMENT AGGREGATION

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Hindriks
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Judgment Aggregation ◽  
Normative Reasons ◽  
Paradoxical Results

Paradoxical results concerning judgment aggregation have recently been invoked to defend the thesis that a corporate agent can be morally responsible for a decision without any of its individual members bearing such responsibility. I contend that the arguments offered for this irreducibility thesis are inconclusive. They do not pay enough attention to how we evaluate individual moral responsibility, in particular not to the role that a flawed assessment of the normative reasons that bear on the issue to be decided on play in this context. I go on to propose a method for distributing corporate responsibility to individual members within the judgment aggregation framework.

scholarly journals Journeys Cross Divides: Nurses and Midwives' Experiences of Choosing a Path Following Separation of the Professions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dianne Mary Mulcahy
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Path Following ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Group Agency ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Life Pattern ◽  
Competence Assurance

<p>In 2003 the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act was introduced and established separate regulatory authorities for nursing and midwifery. This study is designed to explore the experiences of dually registered practitioners affected by this divide, as now there are two separate and possible paths, and two corresponding sets of competencies to fulfil. The design for this qualitative descriptive study utilised the written and oral narratives of three practitioners affected by this professional regulation and demonstrated its impact on their career development. Individual storytelling, as narrative, provided a theoretical lens aiding insight into their experience and pattern of decision making. In addition, symbolic consideration of the study data was provided by collective storytelling via the perennial myth of the hero journey. Shifting professional ground following the Health Practitioners Competence Act 2003 generated a focus for the inquiry into practitioners’ modes of adjustment. For the practitioners in the study, transition between the occupational roles of nursing and midwifery comprised the possible career trajectories. A status passage, as the process of change from one social status to another, is described and includes the transitional experience of anticipation, expectation, contrast, and change. The findings from this research provide illumination of the nuances of professional decision making as a lived experience, and highlight how these practitioners dealt with shifting meaning, values, awareness, choices, and relationships. Aspects of group agency and identity, change management, and professional role transition were revealed. Life pattern, revealed through narrative, was an important research construct for exposing the ways in which the participants negotiated change, and displayed the function of their thinking and reasoning through dilemmas. Perception of individual and group identity revealed attitudes of esteem to the dominant discourse, and exposed dynamic tension between work patterns and life stage. Renegotiating arrangements of personal and professional commitment resulted from this dynamic interplay, and the relationship to stress and burnout was explored.</p>

scholarly journals Setting distribution analysis in elite-level men's volleyball: an ecological approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e47710111994
Author(s):  
Augusto Cézar Rodrigues Rocha ◽  
Lorenzo Laporta ◽  
Henrique Modenesi ◽  
Rodrigo Luiz Vancini ◽  
Fabiano de Souza Fonseca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecological Approach ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Ecological Dynamics ◽  
World Championship ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Situational Constraints

This study aimed to analyze how situational constraints (lifter distance to attackers and blockers) influenced a volleyball setter’s distribution after reception that allow an organized attack with all attack options and the relationship between the attack tempo and the effect of the attack according to the setting location. The sample comprised 22 games in the 2018 Men's Volleyball World Championship. The results showed that there was a difference in the distribution while considering the distance between the setter and the striker in position 4 [χ2 (4) = 28.657; p <0.001], the striker in position 6 [χ2 (4) = 23.828; p <0.001], the blocker in position 4 [χ2 (4) = 16.566; p = 0.002] and there was an effect of the attack tempo on the effect of attacks performed by position 6 [χ2 (3) = 15.438; p = 0.001]. From these findings, it is clear that the setter's decision-making is related to the ecological dynamics of the game and to situational constraints, with the availability of attackers influencing the setter's distribution and setting, along with the layout of the adversary’s blocking system.

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