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août 2008
- handle: 10670/1.kdx57j
- halshs: halshs-00177374
- doi: 10.1007/s00355-007-0274-8
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s00355-007-0274-8
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Mots-clés
Decision under ignorance Impartiality Justice Utilitarianism Egalitarianism Decision under ignorance.Sujets proches
Parliamentary government Representation Self-government Political representation ImpartialityCiter ce document
Thibault Gajdos et al., « The ignorant observer », HALSHS : archive ouverte en Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société, ID : 10.1007/s00355-007-0274-8
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Résumé
We propose an extension of Harsanyi's Impartial Observer Theorem based on the representation of ignorance as the set of all possible probability distributions over individuals. We obtain a characterization of the observer's preferences that, under our most restrictive conditions, is a convex combination of Harsanyi's utilitarian and Rawls' egalitarian criteria. This representation is ethically meaningful, in the sense that individuals' utilities are cardinally measurable and fully comparable. This allows us to conclude that the impartiality requirement cannot be used to decide between Rawls' and Harsanyi's positions.