How ought we to reason? What is it rational to think and to do? In the theoretical realm, one might look to formal logic and probability theory for an answer. In the practical realm, decision theory is the gold standard for many social scientists. But which logic? which decision theory? and how exactly should we reason with probabilities? Faculty at Texas A&M explore these normative questions about alternative logics, extensions of classical logic (e.g., to modality), and different versions of the theory of choice. At the same time, we are interested in philosophical questions arising from formal work (the ontological status of mathematical objects and of possibilities, for example), on how formal theories can be applied to solve real world problems, and on how normative theories of rationality interact with empirical studies of reasoning.
Faculty studying these questions include:
Bermudez's research explores the complex interactions between (a) formal models of choice and social interactions, (b) philosophical accounts of rationality and good reasoning, (c) empirical studies of how people actually reason and solve social problems.
Recent Publications in Area:
- Frame It Again: New Tools for Rational Thought (CambridgeUP, 2020)
- "Rational framing effects: A multidisciplinary case" target article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences 45 (2022), 1-51(including 27 commentaries)
- "Does Newcomb’s problem actually insist?". In A. Ahmed (Ed.), Newcomb’s Problem (Cambridge University Press, 2018), pp. 19-41.
Lavendar studies the history of medieval and early modern theorizing about cognitive processes, including the relationship between reasoning and sensation and the relationship between cognition and motivation.
Recent Publications in Area:
- “The Mark of the Mental in the Fourteenth Century: Volitio, cognitio, and Adam Wodeham’s Experience Argument,” British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 31(6), 2023, 1128-1150.
Media:
Menzel's research focuses chiefly on the logic and metaphysics of modality. The logical tools he has developed can be used for developing formal models of belief and action.
Recent Publications in Area:
- “Pure Logic and Higher-order Metaphysics,” in P. Fritz and N. Jones, Higher-Order Metaphysics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024, 421-459
- “Knowledge Representation, the World Wide Web, and the Evolution of Logic,” Synthese 182(2) (2011), 269–295.
- “Process Specification Language: Principles and Applications” (with M. Grüninger), AI Magazine 24(3) (Fall 2003), 63-74.
Peterson is currently working on a paper that questions the normative relevance of money pump and Dutch book arguments. Peterson is the editor of a book series, The Cambridge Elements in Decision Theory and Philosophy, published by Cambridge University Press.
Recent Publications in Area:
- "Interval Values and Rational Choice", Economics and Philosophy, vol 35(1): 159-166, 2019.
- "Prospectism and the Weak MoneyPump Argument", Theory and Decision, vol 78(3): 451-456, 2015.
- "Do Pragmatic Arguments Show Too Much?", European Journal for Philosophy of Science, vol 6(2): 165-172, 2016.
Zhou's research in history of philosophy and metaphysics involves formal work and the philosophical questions it raises, such as the metaphysics and logic of boundaries. Zhou is also interested in how rational and nonrational animals act appropriately—or err—in response to their representations, as explored in both historical and contemporary moral psychology and action theory.
Recent Publications in Area:
- "Descartes on the Source of Error: The Fourth Meditation and the Correspondence," with Elisabeth, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 30(6), 2022, 992-1012.
- "Russell's Two Lectures in China on Mathematical Logic,”(with Bernard Linsky), Russell, 38(1), Summer 2018,52-68.