Regret is born where choice dies

• Main Author: RYAN, Shane
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: regret; negative affective state; past choice; Negative Affect State Requirement; Perceived Forking Path Requirement; agent-regret; Zeelenberg's definition; Epistemology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3710
• Institution: Singapore Management University

​​​​​​​This paper analyses regret. On the basis of a number of examples, the case is made that regret is a negative affective state that has a perceived past choice as its object. More precisely, S regrets φ-ing, iff, and because (i) S has a negative affective state regarding φ-ing (Negative Affect State Requirement), the experience of which is explained by (ii) S perceiving that an alternative choice that was available to her would have been preferable to φ-ing (Perceived Forking Path Requirement). The resulting account is differentiated from Williams’ agent-regret and shown to avoid problems faced by Zeelenberg’s definition of regret.