José Luis Bermúdez (Texas A&M University): Frames, senses, and thought-equivalence

Abstract: When are we rationally required to treat distinct thoughts equivalently? If I know, for example, that Hesperus = Phosphorus, then I seem to be rationally required to believe F (Hesperus) if and only if I also believe F(Phosphorus). This paper explores whether a comparable requirement holds for preference and value. Can it be rational to prefer A to B and B to C, even when one knows that A and C represent different framings of the same fact? Drawing on a range of literary examples, this paper (a) argues that such quasi-cyclical preferences can be rational, and (b) proposes some conditions on when that might hold.

José Luis Bermúdez is Professor of Philosophy and the Samuel Rhea Gammon Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, where he was an awarded an AFS Distinguished Achievement Award for Research in 2021.

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