Talk:Essence of Decision

Comment

Another full entry f/ a book where an entry did not exist before. Am primarily using the original 1971 edition; anyone w/1999 edition please add accordingly. --L. 17:22, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Quotes from the 1971 edition

Some quotes from the 1971 edition that may be useful:

• It must be noted, however, that an imaginative analyst can construct an account of value-maximizing choice for any action or set of actions performed by a government. (p. 35, used in the article already; goes on to state Allison's "Rationality theorem": "there exists no pattern of activity for which an imaginative analyst cannot write a large number of objective functions such that the pattern of activity maximizes each function.") Rl 10:21, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

• Historians and analysts of great events tend to obscure differences among governmental leaders and to neglect the distance between these leaders' reasonable but competing recommendations and a chosen, implemented course of action. Information about such factors is difficult to acquire. To some, these features seem overly petty or personal. For others, hindsight so clarifies the uncertainties that failures become errors and success the only reasonable choice. (p. 186, explaining the traditional ignorance for seemingly "ephemeral details") Rl 10:21, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

The Rationality Theorem

RI, I created a separate article called the rationality theorem. Help? --L. 15:28, 25 October 2005 (UTC)