Epistemic Utility Theory

Miners [34, 26]. You are standing in front of two mine shafts (A and B). Flood waters are approaching. You know that ten miners are in one of the shafts, but you don’t know which (e.g., their location was determined by the result of a fair coin toss). You have enough sand bags to block one of the shafts. If the miners are in A, then blocking A saves all 10 miners (and, hence, minimizes disutility, i.e., # of dead miners). If the miners are in B, then blocking B minimizes disutility. If you block neither A nor B, the water will be divided, and only the lowest miner in the shaft will die. Claim. It is rationally permissible to block neither A nor B.