In the Death in Damascus scenario, whichever location the man chooses, Death will be there, making no pure strategy maximize expected utility given its realization.

Weirich (1985) and Harper (1986) define ratification in terms of an option’s expected utility given its realization rather than given a decision to realize it. An option is self-ratifying if and only if it maximizes expected utility given its realization. This account of ratification accommodates cases in which an option and a decision to realize it have different expected utilities. Weirich and Harper also assume causal decision theory’s formula for expected utility. In the case of Death in Dam