Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T03:38:21.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Satisficing and Substantive Values

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2009

Thomas Hurka
Affiliation:
Jackman Distinguished Chair in Philosophical Studies, University of Toronto
Michael Byron
Affiliation:
Kent State University, Ohio
Get access

Summary

Satisficing theories, whether of rationality or morality, do not require agents to maximize the good. They demand only that agents bring about outcomes that are, in one or both of two senses, “good enough.” In the first sense, an outcome is good enough if it is above some absolute threshold of goodness; this yields a view that I will call absolute-level satisficing. In the second sense, an outcome is good enough if it is reasonably close to the best outcome the agent could bring about; this leads to what I will call comparative satisficing. These two views coincide in their implications for a specific sort of case, in which the situation is now fairly far below the absolute-level threshold and an agent can at best bring it to a point somewhat above that threshold. Here both absolute-level and comparative satisficing say that one need not bring about the best available outcome, though of course one may; one is required only to improve the situation to the absolute threshold. But in other cases the views diverge. If the situation is now far below the absolute threshold and, no matter what, will remain below it, absolute-level satisficing requires agents to do everything they can to improve the situation; here its implications coincide with those of maximizing. But comparative satisficing is less demanding, requiring agents only to make some reasonable percentage of the largest improvement they can.

Type
Chapter
Information
Satisficing and Maximizing
Moral Theorists on Practical Reason
, pp. 71 - 76
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Satisficing and Substantive Values
    • By Thomas Hurka, Jackman Distinguished Chair in Philosophical Studies, University of Toronto
  • Edited by Michael Byron, Kent State University, Ohio
  • Book: Satisficing and Maximizing
  • Online publication: 04 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617058.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Satisficing and Substantive Values
    • By Thomas Hurka, Jackman Distinguished Chair in Philosophical Studies, University of Toronto
  • Edited by Michael Byron, Kent State University, Ohio
  • Book: Satisficing and Maximizing
  • Online publication: 04 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617058.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Satisficing and Substantive Values
    • By Thomas Hurka, Jackman Distinguished Chair in Philosophical Studies, University of Toronto
  • Edited by Michael Byron, Kent State University, Ohio
  • Book: Satisficing and Maximizing
  • Online publication: 04 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617058.005
Available formats
×