The philosophy of incrementalism was itself a reaction to the comprehensive rationality of the rational-deductive model of decision-making utilized in economic theory. This model posits a rational decision-maker with a clearly defined hierarchy of goals. In any decision-making situation, the decision-maker knows all the alternatives and their consequences and chooses among the alternatives according to criteria based on his ordered goal system.
The incrementalists, however, found this model unrealistic – not only descriptively but also prescriptively – in view of the analytic complexities of decision-making and the limitations of men as problem-solvers. Of necessity, man’s problem-solving capabilities are limited by the amount of information he can collect and evaluate. His goal system, moreover, is not ordered but rather a myriad of conflicting, often unarticulated, goals, which are attended to sequentially. The search for alternative and the calculation of their consequences is a costly, time-consuming process that prohibits any near approximation of complete knowledge….
Clark A. Murdock. 1974. Defense Policy Formation: A Comparative Analysis of the McNamara Era. Albany, State University of New York Press. The book is highly recommended.
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