Abstract

This paper aims to show that there are certain basic structural similarities between modern decision theory and medieval approaches to decision making under conditions of incertitude. Modern decision theory as well as its medieval ancestor distinguish between two kinds of incertitude for which there are different decision rules. Modern decision theory distinguishes between risk and uncertainty, whereas in medieval decision theory, the balance or imbalance of a "scale of reasons" correspond to different kinds of incertitude. In the case of uncertainty or a balance of reasons, both paradigms favor risk-avoidance, which is no coincidence since there is a demonstrable historical link between modern and medieval rules of risk-avoidance