We’re going in circles a little aren’t we (my fault, I’ll grant). Okay, so there are two questions:
1.) Is it a rational choice to one box? Answer: No.
2.) Is it rational to have a disposition to one box? Answer: Yes.
As mentioned earlier, I think I’m more interested in creating a decision theory than wins than one that’s rational. But let’s say you are interested in a decision theory that captures rationality: It still seems arbitrary to say that the rationality of the choice is more important than the rationality of the decision. Yes, you could argue that choice is the domain of study for decision theory but the number of decision theorists that would one box (outside of LW) suggests that other people have a different idea of what decision theory would be.
I guess my question is this: Is the whole debate over one or two boxing on Newcomb’s just a disagreement over which question decision theory should be studying or are there people who use choice to mean the same thing that you do that think one boxing is the rational choice?
The latter, I think. (Otherwise, one-boxers would not really be disagreeing with two-boxers. We two-boxers already granted that one-boxing is the better disposition. So if they’re merely aiming to construct a theory of desirable dispositions, rather than rational choice, then their claims would be utterly uncontroversial.)
We’re going in circles a little aren’t we (my fault, I’ll grant). Okay, so there are two questions:
1.) Is it a rational choice to one box? Answer: No. 2.) Is it rational to have a disposition to one box? Answer: Yes.
As mentioned earlier, I think I’m more interested in creating a decision theory than wins than one that’s rational. But let’s say you are interested in a decision theory that captures rationality: It still seems arbitrary to say that the rationality of the choice is more important than the rationality of the decision. Yes, you could argue that choice is the domain of study for decision theory but the number of decision theorists that would one box (outside of LW) suggests that other people have a different idea of what decision theory would be.
I guess my question is this: Is the whole debate over one or two boxing on Newcomb’s just a disagreement over which question decision theory should be studying or are there people who use choice to mean the same thing that you do that think one boxing is the rational choice?
I don’t understand the distinction between choosing to one-box and being the sort of person who chooses to one-box. Can you formalize that difference?
The latter, I think. (Otherwise, one-boxers would not really be disagreeing with two-boxers. We two-boxers already granted that one-boxing is the better disposition. So if they’re merely aiming to construct a theory of desirable dispositions, rather than rational choice, then their claims would be utterly uncontroversial.)
I thought that debate was about free will.