Game theory is central to modern understandings of how people deal with problems of coordination and cooperation. Yet, ironically, it cannot give a straightforward explanation of some of the simplest forms of human coordination and cooperation--most famously, that people can use the apparently arbitrary features of "focal points" to solve coordination problems, and that people sometimes cooperate in "prisoner's dilemmas." Addressing a wide readership of economists, sociologists, psychologists, and philosophers, Michael Bacharach here proposes a revision of game theory that resolves these long-standing problems. In the classical tradition of game theory, Bacharach models human beings as rational actors, but he revises the standard definition of rationality to incorporate two major new ideas. He enlarges the model of a game so that it includes the ways agents describe to themselves (or "frame") their decision problems. And he allows the possibility that people reason as members of groups (or "teams"), each taking herself to have reason to perform her component of the combination of actions that best achieves the group's common goal. Bacharach shows that certain tendencies for individuals to engage in team reasoning are consistent with recent findings in social psychology and evolutionary biology. As the culmination of Bacharach's long-standing program of pathbreaking work on the foundations of game theory, this book has been eagerly awaited. Following Bacharach's premature death, Natalie Gold and Robert Sugden edited the unfinished work and added two substantial chapters that allow the book to be read as a coherent whole.
A dramatic transformation has begun in the way scholars think about human nature. Political scientists, psychologists, economists, and evolutionary biologists are beginning to reject the view that human affairs are shaped almost exclusively by self-interest—a view that came to dominate social science in the last three decades. In Beyond Self-Interest, leading social scientists argue for a view of individuals behavior and social organization that takes into account the powerful motivations of duty, love, and malevolence. Economists who go beyond "economic man," psychologists who go beyond stimulus-response, evolutionary biologists who go beyond the "selfish gene," and political scientists who go beyond the quest for power come together in this provocative and important manifesto. The essays trace, from the ancient Greeks to the present, the use of self-interest to explain political life. They investigate the differences between self-interest and the motivations of duty and love, showing how these motivations affect behavior in "prisoners' dilemma" interactions. They generate evolutionary models that explain how altruistic motivations escape extinction. They suggest ways to model within one individual the separate motivations of public spirit and self-interest, investigate public spirit and self-interest, investigate public spirit in citizen and legislative behavior, and demonstrate that the view of democracy in existing Constitutional interpretations is not based on self-interest. They advance both human evil and mothering as alternatives to self-interest, this last in a penetrating feminist critique of the "contract" model of human interaction.
Philosophy, economics, and decision theory have long been dominated by the idea that rational choice consists of seeking or achieving one's own greatest good. Beyond Optimizing argues that our ordinary understanding of practical reason is more complex than this, and also that optimizing/maximizing views are inadequately supported by the considerations typically offered in their favor. Michael Slote challenges the long-dominant conception of individual rationality, which has to a large extent shaped the very way we think about the essential problems and nature of rationality, morality, and the relations between them. He contests the accepted view by appealing to a set of real-life examples, claiming that our intuitive reaction to these examples illustrates a significant and prevalent, if not always dominant, way of thinking. Slote argues that common sense recognizes that one can reach a point where "enough is enough," be satisfied with what one has, and, hence, rationally decline an optimizing alternative. He suggests that, in the light of common sense, optimizing behavior is often irrational. Thus, Slote is not merely describing an alternative mode of rationality; he is offering a rival theory. And the numerous parallels he points out between this common-sense theory of rationality and common-sense morality are then shown to have important implications for the long-standing disagreement between commonsense morality and utilitarian consequentialism. Beyond Optimizing is notable for its use of a much richer vocabulary of criticism than optimizing/maximizing models ever call upon. And it further argues that recent empirical investigations of the development of altruism and moral motivation need to be followed up by psychological studies of how moderation, and individual rationality more generally, take shape within developing individuals.
Originally published in 1951, "Social Choice and Individual Values" introduced "Arrow's Impossibility Theorem" and founded the field of social choice theory in economics and political science. This new edition, including a new foreword by Nobel laureate Eric Maskin, reintroduces Arrow's seminal book to a new generation of students and researchers."Far beyond a classic, this small book unleashed the ongoing explosion of interest in social choice and voting theory. A half-century later, the book remains full of profound insight: its central message, 'Arrow's Theorem, ' has changed the way we think."--Donald G. Saari, author of "Decisions and Elections: Explaining the Unexpected "
In this valuable process of reflection, construction and interpretation of practical knowledge on the importance of the mechanisms that have been governing society since ancient times in terms of norms and rules, both social, judicial and spiritual, the usefulness they have had as predecessors is evident. of the good behavior of the individual in community, as well as the consequences that in turn have repercussions in all the contexts in which the human being develops, if for any reason or circumstance they are transgressed. This is how this interesting book leads to the disturbing but assertive ways of conceiving criteria in the human being regarding his personal fulfillment and achievement of his own success based on free personal choice that goes beyond the imposed norms and the social paradigms that have influenced in one way or another throughout the life history of each person. On the other hand, it is worth highlighting the enriching contribution of the conceptual, scientific, legal and spiritual union that help to understand in a broader sense the comprehensive approach to the need to strengthen the freedom of choice of the subject, building from himself his criterion of success. and personal satisfaction without holding other actors responsible for their shortcomings, and lack of choice or perhaps their indecision to achieve achievements, goals, face hostile situations and persevere in what has been proposed. In this book, not only the significant contribution of encouraging the reader to find the reasons to make determinations from their freedom of choice is evidenced, but it also allows highlighting in himself, the ability to focus his light of hope both on wanting and on do decisively until you see it materialized on this earthly plane, manifested in all its splendor in your thoughts, beliefs, emotions and above all in your DECISIONS. It is worthwhile for the reader to be passionate about the greatness of the here and now, which this book proposes starting from the vital gratitude that it alone possesses and, incidentally, to finally make a wise personal choice that goes beyond the rules as result of achieving their own success. We have never been unprotected, there have always been patterns of behavior that facilitate our daily lives, such as that reciprocal contribution where it is indicated that you should not do this or that, if you do you will have to face the consequences that this generates, the purpose is not bad, that's why Since ancient times, there has been talk of rules, norms, codes, laws, principles, keys, instructions, as social control mechanisms that seek to regulate behavior, forms of behavior to achieve goals at the individual and collective level. We begin with a civilization considered the most advanced such as that of Mesopotamia, with Shuruppak's instructions where the father advises his son, with this he is avoiding headaches in the future and guaranteeing a good coexistence. We give way to what our life manual teaches us in the Old Testament, with the ten commandments, the proverbs and in the New Testament we find the teachings of Jesus that are embodied in the Gospel of Matthew, the letters of Paul to the Romans, Hebrews and James. From these spiritual teachings, we continue with the legal regulation, whose purpose is to provide each individual being with well-being, providing guarantees, and in turn, indicating duties and obligations, which begins with what is agreed in the National Constitution, then through the Penal Code. regulates human behaviors that affect individually and collectively, and its consequences when violating legal precepts. Each person is responsible for having a calm, prosperous and successful life since all the DECISIONS MADE are reflected in that; Most consider that to achieve this you have to have money, but it is not like that, it is having and doing everything that makes you happy.
"James Lamiell is a creative, sophisticated, and careful thinker, one whose ideas are deserving of broad attention....The book should be of interest to scholars and practitioners, along with advanced graduate students." --Kenneth J. Gergen, Swarthmore College Beyond Individual and Group Differences: Human Individuality, Scientific Psychology, and William Stern′s Critical Personalism examines the history of psychology′s effort to come to terms with human individuality, from the time of Wundt to present day. With a primary emphasis on the contributions of German psychologist William Stern, this book generates a wider appreciation for Stern′s perspective on human individuality and for the proper place of personalitic thinking within scientific psychology. The author presents an alternative approach to the logical positivism that permeates traditional psychological thought and methodology making this an innovative, ground-breaking work. Feature and Benefits: Provides book-length treatment of the concept of human individuality in twentieth century scientific psychology, highlighting the historical contributions made by the German psychologist and philosopher William Stern (1871-1938). Critically appraises contemporary thinking about personality in light of historical and methodological considerations. Challenges readers to rethink the problem of human individuality with research that mounts a direct empirical challenge to the long-standing belief that it is meaningless to characterize individuals without comparing them with one another. Concludes with a general discussion of the potential of personalistic thinking both as a foundation for personality theory and as a framework for social thought. Beyond Individual and Group Differences is a dynamic book for academics and scholars in the areas of personality psychology, individual differences, and the history of psychology.
The literature on the theory of social choice has grown considerably beyond the few items in existence at the time the first edition of this book appeared in 1951. Some of the new literature has dealt with the technical, mathematical aspects, more with the interpretive. My own thinking has also evolved somewhat, although I remain far from satisfied with present formulations. The exhaustion of the first edition provides a convenient time for a selective and personal stocktaking in the form of an appended commentary entitled, 'Notes on the Theory of Social Choice, 1963, ' containing reflections on the text and its omissions and on some of the more recent literature. This form has seemed more appropriate than a revision of the original text, which has to some extent acquired a life of its own.
This is the first book to examine the central tenets of economics from a feminist point of view. In these original essays, the authors suggest that the discipline of economics could be improved by freeing itself from masculine biases. Beyond Economic Man raises questions about the discipline not because economics is too objective but because it is not objective enough. The contributors—nine economists, a sociologist, and a philosopher—discuss the extent to which gender has influenced both the range of subjects economists have studied and the way in which scholars have conducted their studies. They investigate, for example, how masculine concerns underlie economists' concentration on market as opposed to household activities and their emphasis on individual choice to the exclusion of social constraints on choice. This focus on masculine interests, the contributors contend, has biased the definition and boundaries of the discipline, its central assumptions, and its preferred rhetoric and methods. However, the aim of this book is not to reject current economic practices, but to broaden them, permitting a fuller understanding of economic phenomena. These essays examine current economic practices in the light of a feminist understanding of gender differences as socially constructed rather than based on essential male and female characteristics. The authors use this concept of gender, along with feminist readings of rhetoric and the history of science, as well as postmodernist theory and personal experience as economists, to analyze the boundaries, assumptions, and methods of neoclassical, socialist, and institutionalist economics. The contributors are Rebecca M. Blank, Paula England, Marianne A. Ferber, Nancy Folbre, Ann L. Jennings, Helen E. Longino, Donald N. McCloskey, Julie A. Nelson, Robert M. Solow, Diana Strassmann, and Rhonda M. Williams.
