11 August 2023
Conditional Logics of Preference: How to Make the Best Choice
This course is about preference structures. These are versatile models, consisting of a set of alternatives and a relation, denoted <, between them that indicates "betterness" or "preference" of some kind. The versatility comes from the fact that preferences, and the alternatives that they rank, can mean many things in different contexts.
The most straightforward meaning is if < represents a utility comparison of an agent, e.g., "coffee < tea". But < could also represent a plausibility ordering (more plausible is "better"), a defeat relation among strategies ("scissors < rock"), et cetera. By studying preference structure we can improve our understanding of all these different interpretations of <.
We will study these structures through the vehicle of conditional logics. These logics have an operator B(p|q), with the meaning that "if q holds, then p is the best choice". In particular, we will investigate how B(p|q) depends on assumptions about <.
Course leader
Louwe B. Kuijer
Target group
Students
Fee info
EUR 490: Early student registration
EUR 690: Early non-academic registration
Scholarships
There are several scholarship options which you can read about on our website.