In Defence of Preference Cycles

Johanna Thoma (London School of Economics)

Abstract: I argue that acyclicity of preference cannot be defended as a general requirement of instrumental rationality. The standard instrumentalist defence of the requirement to have acyclical preferences, namely the money pump argument, relies on a fatal equivocation about the standard of instrumental rationality. Instead, I show that on the most plausible view of the standard of instrumental rationality, acyclicity can be justified as a conditional requirement of instrumental rationality: It turns out to be a requirement of instrumental rationality for agents who have a desire to have choice dispositions that are stable over time and across different choice contexts. For the rest of us, instrumental rationality is more permissive.