I would argue that inconsistency of preferences isn’t necessarily a sign of irrationality. Come to think of it, it may hinge greatly on how you frame the preference.
Consider changing tastes. As a child, I preferred some sweets to savory items, and those preferences reversed as I aged. Is that irrational? No and, indeed, you needn’t even view it as a preference reversal. The preference “I prefer to eat what tastes good to me” has remained unchanged, after all. Is my sense of taste itself a preference? It seems like this would devolve into semantics quickly.
My reluctance to characterize preferences as rational or irrational is that I see these as prescriptive terms. But you can’t prescribe preferences. You either have them or you don’t. Only decision rules are chosen.
I would argue that inconsistency of preferences isn’t necessarily a sign of irrationality. Come to think of it, it may hinge greatly on how you frame the preference.
Consider changing tastes. As a child, I preferred some sweets to savory items, and those preferences reversed as I aged. Is that irrational? No and, indeed, you needn’t even view it as a preference reversal. The preference “I prefer to eat what tastes good to me” has remained unchanged, after all. Is my sense of taste itself a preference? It seems like this would devolve into semantics quickly.
My reluctance to characterize preferences as rational or irrational is that I see these as prescriptive terms. But you can’t prescribe preferences. You either have them or you don’t. Only decision rules are chosen.