Just to clarify I am not, not, not defending the willpower model you described—I just don’t think willpower, properly understood as a conflict between near and far modes can be left out of an account of human decision making processes. I think the situation is both more complicated and more troubling than both models and don’t think it is rational to force the square peg that is human values into the round hole that is ‘the utility function’.
I’ll agree that willpower may be a useful concept. I’m not providing a full model, though—mostly I want to dismiss the folk-psychology close tie between willpower and morals.
Just to clarify I am not, not, not defending the willpower model you described—I just don’t think willpower, properly understood as a conflict between near and far modes can be left out of an account of human decision making processes. I think the situation is both more complicated and more troubling than both models and don’t think it is rational to force the square peg that is human values into the round hole that is ‘the utility function’.
I’ll agree that willpower may be a useful concept. I’m not providing a full model, though—mostly I want to dismiss the folk-psychology close tie between willpower and morals.