SNSF Starting Grant: Motivational Change
Prof. Dr. Michael Messerli
The focus of the SNF professorship is on practical philosophy and decision theory. It centers on topics, phenomena, and questions of practical philosophy (e.g., values, happiness, weakness of will) as well as rational decision-making, such as decision processes, adaptive preferences, or preference change. The research is characterized by a strong interdisciplinary orientation, evident in both the methodology and content, as well as in collaborations. Various methods are used, including conceptual and normative analysis, experiments, and mathematical modeling.
Focus
What is a rational decision from a philosophical, economic, and psychological perspective?
Is rationality normative?
Does decision theory fail in "Big Life Choices"?
How can preference change be modeled?
What is happiness?
What are values?
What role do commitments play in decision-making processes?
Is it ethically justifiable to influence or manipulate people's behavior?
Is it ethically justifiable to influence or manipulate people's values?
How can a benchmark be developed to measure the changing preferences of LLMs (Large Language Models)? (Research cooperation with computer science/private sector)
Can we determine what influences the stability of LLM preferences through prompting, system prompting, fine-tuning, and ablation? (Research cooperation with computer science/private sector)
Through research-driven teaching, the SNF professorship pursues a clear educational goal: students are to grow into experts who can handle complex decision-making situations with an analytical approach and capture them theoretically.