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Examining boxing and toxin

Goldstein, Laurence (2003) Examining boxing and toxin. Analysis, 63 (279). pp. 242-244. ISSN 0003-2638. (doi:10.1111/1467-8284.00429) (KAR id:8952)

Abstract

A competitor playing the Newcomb game is in a state of torment – she wants to be temperamentally a one-boxer to maximize her chances of the opaque box containing a large sum of money but, when it comes to choosing, she wants to have an unplanned temperament-change, and two-box to maximize her winnings. Similarly someone who wants to win a large sum of money in Greg Kavka's fiendish set-up is in a state of torment, trying to keep the intention to drink the toxin at the stipulated time and to fight off the intention not to drink it, while knowing full well that merely intending to drink it (not actually drinking it) is what wins the bet. This phenomenological similarity is rooted in a structural similarity which these two paradoxes share with the 'Surprise Examination'.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/1467-8284.00429
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BC Logic
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Laurence Goldstein
Date Deposited: 08 Sep 2008 17:06 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:46 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/8952 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Goldstein, Laurence.

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