Hume on Rational Final Ends

Abstract

Historically, the view, prevalent in contemporary economics and decision theory as well as philosophy, that rational action consists simply in satisfying one's desires, whatever they may be, as efficiently as possible, is to be found first in Book II of Hume's Treatise of Human Nature. This view has counterintuitive and self-refuting implications, in that it recognizes as rational behavior that may reveal a clear degree of irresponsibility or psychological instability. Accordingly, many Hume scholars have tried to show recently that this view was not Hume's; and that, on the contrary, Hume did supply an account of rational [mal ends--in his discussion of the calm passions, the "steady and general view" that corrects the biases and contingencies of an individual's desires and perceptions, and elsewhere. But a detailed reconstruction of Hume's views on these matters that assembles all the relevant texts does not support this thesis. Instead, it undermines it. Hence the counterintuitive and self-refuting implications of Hume's view of rational action must be allowed to stand. IMlccording to what I shall call the traditional view, reason functions to make inferences and categorical and hypothetical judgments, formulate hypotheses, and derive conclusions from evidential statements, deductive premises, and syllogisms. Reason on the traditional view is a logical arbiter, a calculator and discoverer of the relations between abstract concepts and states or events in the world. There is a certain model of rational action, call it the utility-maximization model of rationality, which many have taken to be a direct consequence of the traditional view of reason. The basic premise of the utility-maximization model is that rationality is a purely theoretical or logical capacity which consists in ascertaining, through investigation and calculation, the most efficient means possible of achieving our desired [mal ends, whatever these may be. "Efficient means" typically include whatever resources happen to be available to us, i.e., time, energy, physical labor, and material goods, expended with as little cost as possible. Call this basic premise the positive utility-maximization