Academic

Cohen on Social Epistemology & Reasons for Decisions

By Lawrence Solum

Mathilde Cohen (Columbia University) has posted The Social Epistemology of Public Institutions (NEW WAVES IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW, Maksymilian del Mar, ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, Columbia Public Law Research Paper) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This article discusses what it means for a decision-maker to have a reason for a decision and to give that reason as a justification for the decision. Indeed, if the relationship is difficult to sort out at the individual, private level, it becomes even more complicated when we move to complex collective entities like public institutions. This is why we need to know under what conditions public institutions may 'have' reasons for their decisions.

The article explores the hypothesis that proper ascriptions of reasons to institutions depend on whether they have formally adopted a common set of reasons. I contend that the correct understanding of the relationship between having a reason and giving it as a reason gives rise to what I call the 'no-priority view.' The no-priority view is simply the idea that there may be reciprocal relationships between the reasons a decision-maker 'has' and the reasons she puts forward for a given decision. Following this view, it becomes possible to understand how the legal requirement to give reasons can become an effective oversight mechanism to prevent arbitrary decision-making and increase the contestability of public decisions.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on January 21, 2011 (boomark / email).