skip to main content

Seminar on History and Philosophy of Science

Thursday, May 23, 2024
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Add to Cal
Dabney Hall 110 (Treasure Room)
What are cognitive costs?
Thomas F. Icard, Moore Distinguished Scholar, Caltech; Professor of Philosophy and, by courtesy, of Computer Science, Stanford University,

Abstract: Traditional approaches to decision theory typically idealize away from cognitive limitations on the part of the decision maker, as well as from the deliberative processes that ultimately lead to a decision. A common way of accommodating limitations on deliberative capacities is to introduce a concept of cognitive cost, assumed to trade off against some independent notion of value or utility. The aim of this talk will be to present some puzzles about this concept, and to make some progress toward a more comprehensive account of it and of its role in a theory of rational decision making.

For more information, please contact Fran Tise by phone at 626-395-3609 or by email at [email protected].