Inter‐temporal rationality without temporal representation

Correspondence Simon A. B. Brown, Department of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, 281 Gilman Hall, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Email: simonabbrown@gmail.com Recent influential accounts of temporal representation— the use of mental representations with explicit temporal contents, such as before and after relations and durations—sharply distinguish representation from mere sensitivity. A common, important picture of intertemporal rationality is that it consists in maximizing total expected discounted utility across time. By analyzing reinforcement learning algorithms, this article shows that, given such notions of temporal representation and intertemporal rationality, it would be possible for an agent to achieve inter-temporal rationality without temporal representation. It then explores potential upshots of this result for theorizing about rationality and representation.