1. MASA ROTUNDĂ CALCULUS AND FREE WILL IN THE ECONOMIC DECISION
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MASA ROTUNDĂ
CALCULUS AND FREE WILL IN THE ECONOMIC DECISION
Referent: Emil Dinga

2. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
CONTENTS
Prolegomenon
Four theses
Some concluding remarks
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

3. Non-empirical premises Empirical conclusions Non-empirical conclusions
PROLEGOMENON (1/5)
Rationality: a kind of logical inference, from premises to conclusion, based on the four principles of bivalent logics
provable rationality: rationality where non-empirical conclusions are drawn from non-empirical premises (autonomous rationality - AR)
non-provable rationality: rationality where empirical conclusions are drawn from empirical premises (habit rationality - HR)
quasi-provable rationality: rationality where non-empirical conclusions are drawn from empirical premises (belief rationality - BR)
quasi-rationality: rationality where empirical conclusions are drawn from non- empirical premises (practical rationality - PR)
Empirical premises
Non-empirical premises
Empirical conclusions HR PR
Non-empirical conclusions BR AR
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

4. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
PROLEGOMENON (2/5)
Rationality model: a logically invariant device that necessarily generates conclusions from premises, based on its own semiotic principles
semiotic principles: principles related to ways and to associated significations concerning:
semantics: relationships between signes and their referentials (denotations)
sintax: relationships among signes (the propositions or the predicates)
pragmatics: relationships between signes and the user of them
arising question : what about the Gödel theorem?
our answer: the conclusion of un-determination about the truth value is still a conclusion, so the definition of the rationality model is working!
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

5. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
PROLEGOMENON (3/5)
Calculus: any finit episode of rationality model functioning (eg. of a Turing machine)
Outcome: any comprehensive result of a calculus
Decision: any conscious acceptance of an outcome, no matter its significance
Behaviour: a practical objectivation of a decision, no matter its way
practical: related to practice
practice: relationship of any kind among human beings (relationship among subjects)
a-rational: impossible to be related to rational
irrational: inconsistent (i.e. contradictory) with rational
NB: i-rational does not means something wrong or un-acceptable outside the rationality model considered, but only its inside
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

6. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
PROLEGOMENON (4/5)
Necessary: a state parameter of some a system that is inherent for the given system
Necessary decision: a decision based on calculus (generally delivered by a rationality model)
Free will: a state parameter of some a system that give to the system the capacity to oppose (ignore, modify, reject, etc.) to the necessity
Necessity: the behaviour space where the free will is impossible
Liberty: the behaviour space where the free will is exclusive
Contingent decision: decision taken inside the space of liberty
Actual decision: decision taken inside the historical (dated, empirical) intersection between the necessity and liberty
NB: realy we experience only the actual decisions
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

7. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
PROLEGOMENON (5/5)
Some final comments:
the conceptual pair calculus – free will is not a primary (primitive) pair, but a derivative one
the primary (primitive) conceptual pair is necessity – liberty
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

8. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
FOUR THESES (1/4)
(Thesis 1): No decision based on calculus is of free will nature
argument: once a rationality model was chosen, its outcome is mandatory to be adopted, because it is logically necessary
arising question : what about the case when more than one outcomes are delivered?
our answer: a new rationality model is needed in order to select among the alternative outcomes; so the new rationality model imposes again the necessity, against the free will, by a new calculus aimed to choose a single alternative
the logical consequence of the thesis 1: the possible free will behavior is moved back toward the moment of choosing the rationality model itself; based on this consequence we formulate the thesis 2
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

9. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
FOUR THESES (2/4)
(Thesis 2): No choosing of a rationality model is of free will nature
argument: choosing among the rationality models is logically equivalent with any choosing among alternatives (this time, the alternatives are the different rationality models from a possible list of such rationality models)
arising question : what about the criteria to choose among the rationality model?
our answer: they must be based on the key principle or principles driving the logics of the rationality models
the logical consequence of the thesis 2: the free will behavior is moved more back toward the invariants apt to ground a rationality model (eg. the selfishness principle for the homo oeconomicus model of rationality); from this we formulate the thesis 3
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

10. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
FOUR THESES (3/4)
(Thesis 3): The only invariant criterion aimed to generically ground a rationality model is the human nature
argument: the human nature is preponderantly generated by non-cultural factors (eg. the biological determination seems to be crucial here)
arising question : could the so-called socio-biology offer a likely explanation of the background of the human being practical behaviour?
our answer: yes, under the condition of uniformity of this determination (eg. no racial discrimination of determination)
the logical consequence of the thesis 3: never the human nature is objectivated as such, but only through the human condition (the human condition is the generic human nature altered by the culture); from this we formulate the thesis 4
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

11. E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision
FOUR THESES (4/4)
(Thesis 4): The only (variant) criterion to ground an actual rationality model is the human condition
argument: the human condition is the generic human nature altered by the culture; so, the human condition is an empirical parameter while the human nature is a theoretical one, and we always observe or experience ourselves only the human condition
arising question : if the human condition is simply contingent (i.e., accidental, empirical, historical), how could it ground a rationality model
our answer: only by an a-rational or irrational choosing of the empirical key principle of the rationality model (eg. choosing of the axioms system of an explanatory system is simply arbitrary, so under the free will)
the logical consequence of the thesis 4: the only place (or moment) where (when) the free will works is the choosing of the key principle which the rationality model is based on
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

12. SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS
Any calculus (no matter it is quantitative or qualitative, based on intuition or on rationality model, simple or sophisticated) imposes necessarily the economic decision
so, the calculus transports us in the necessity territory
If it is possible to take a decision without calculus, then we have free will, because this means a negation of the necessity
this negation is not of a refutation nature, but of avoiding one
Even if we take decisions based on calculus generated by a rationality model, the free will could still be saved
namely at the moment of choosing the key principle which the rationality model is based on
The operational key principle grounding any rationality model must be of the human condition, but not of the human nature origin
The human condition is the contingent (so, empirical) objectification of the human nature, via the culture (values, institutions, mema etc.)
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision

13. THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION!
E.Dinga - Calculus and free will in the economic decision