Choice Group Seminar by Mike Deigan (Centre of Human Abilities): Against Awareness Agglomeration

Abstract: Agents sometimes become able to entertain new propositions which they had previously been unable to entertain. Much illuminating work modelling this phenomenon and understanding its normative consequences has been done under the heading of awareness growth. Theorists in this tradition often assume that awareness satisfies an agglomeration axiom: if an agent is aware of p and they are aware of q, then they are aware of p ∧ q. In this talk I argue against awareness agglomeration. Awareness in the entertainability sense does not in fact agglomerate, there are no clear grounds for treating awareness agglomeration as a rational requirement, and there is some reason not to make it as a descriptive idealization.

Mike Deigan is a postdoc at Rutgers University and a Fellow at the Centre of Human Abilities for the summer.

This event will take place in person on LSE’s campus. However, those unable to attend in person will have the option of taking part online.

To join online just follow these instructions:

• Download Zoom
• Zoom link for this for this meeting: https://lse.zoom.us/j/6613924533 

Please note that these events are routinely recorded, with the edited footage being made publicly available on our website and YouTube channel. We will only record the audio, the slides and the speaker and will not include the Q&A section. However, any question asked during the talk itself will feature in the final edit.