Colloquium: Febuary 19th
Title: Heloise, Marriage, and Revealed Preferences
Speaker: Nicole Wyatt (University of Calgary)
Friday, Feb 19th at 2:30pm in CLE A203
Abstract:
Heloise notoriously tells Abelard that she would prefer being his mistress to being Caesar's wife. What is perhaps less well known is that she also suggests that, given the nature of marriage, women in general should prefer a king to their current husbands, and men prefer a queen to their current wives. She argues that the fact that most people don’t regularly “trade up” for a better spouse reveals false beliefs on their parts. In this talk I’ll discuss Heloise’s views about marriage as an economic institution and her argument that marriage is incompatible with love and friendship between spouses.