The output is necessarily a single consistent set of preferences in practice.
This doesn’t seem necessary at all, to me. Why do you say it is?
In fact, in practice—to take an immediate example—the output of reflection in my case has been to demonstrate that my preferences do not conform to the VNM axioms (and therefore cannot be represented with a utility function). Indeed this reflection process did not change my preferences, as you say. And yet the output was not ‘consistent’ in the way we’re discussing!
Would you say that I just haven’t reflected enough, and that further reflection would reveal that actually, my real preferences are, and have always been, ‘consistent’ in this way? But how would we verify this claim? (How much more reflection is ‘enough’?) Or how else would you resolve this apparent falsification of your claim?
I would like to give you a longer response, but I’m on the go and about to enter a long week of work meetings. Remind me if you don’t get a longer reply (and you still care).
I think it would help though to clarify: what do you mean by: “feels inconsistent?“ I hope it is okay to ask you a short question about the meaning of a common word :) It would help to have an example.
Oh—I wasn’t saying anything new there; I was just referring back to the first sentence of that paragraph:
In fact, in practice—to take an immediate example—the output of reflection in my case has been to demonstrate that my preferences do not conform to the VNM axioms (and therefore cannot be represented with a utility function).
I see. But then, whence this claim:
This doesn’t seem necessary at all, to me. Why do you say it is?
In fact, in practice—to take an immediate example—the output of reflection in my case has been to demonstrate that my preferences do not conform to the VNM axioms (and therefore cannot be represented with a utility function). Indeed this reflection process did not change my preferences, as you say. And yet the output was not ‘consistent’ in the way we’re discussing!
Would you say that I just haven’t reflected enough, and that further reflection would reveal that actually, my real preferences are, and have always been, ‘consistent’ in this way? But how would we verify this claim? (How much more reflection is ‘enough’?) Or how else would you resolve this apparent falsification of your claim?
I would like to give you a longer response, but I’m on the go and about to enter a long week of work meetings. Remind me if you don’t get a longer reply (and you still care).
I think it would help though to clarify: what do you mean by: “feels inconsistent?“ I hope it is okay to ask you a short question about the meaning of a common word :) It would help to have an example.
Er, sorry, but I didn’t use the phrase “feels inconsistent” (nor any other construction involving “feel”)… what are you referring to?
Sorry that was sloppy of me:
Oh—I wasn’t saying anything new there; I was just referring back to the first sentence of that paragraph: