This anthology, the first to bring together the most importantphilosophical essays on the paradoxes, analyses the concepts underlyingthe Prisoner's Dilemma and Newcomb's Problem and evaluates theproposed solutions. The relevant theories have been developed over thepast four decades in a variety of disciplines: mathematics, economics,psychology, political science, biology, and philosophy. And theproblems these paradoxes uncover can arise in many different forms: indebates over nuclear disarmament, labour-management disputes, maritalconflicts, Calvinist theology, and even in the evolution of diseasethrough the "cooperation" of microorganisms. Thepossibilities for application are virtually limitless.
This volume brings together many of Terence Horgan's essays on paradoxes: Newcomb's problem, the Monty Hall problem, the two-envelope paradox, the sorites paradox, and the Sleeping Beauty problem. Newcomb's problem arises because the ordinary concept of practical rationality constitutively includes normative standards that can sometimes come into direct conflict with one another. The Monty Hall problem reveals that sometimes the higher-order fact of one's having reliably received pertinent new first-order information constitutes stronger pertinent new information than does the new first-order information itself. The two-envelope paradox reveals that epistemic-probability contexts are weakly hyper-intensional; that therefore, non-zero epistemic probabilities sometimes accrue to epistemic possibilities that are not metaphysical possibilities; that therefore, the available acts in a given decision problem sometimes can simultaneously possess several different kinds of non-standard expected utility that rank the acts incompatibly. The sorites paradox reveals that a certain kind of logical incoherence is inherent to vagueness, and that therefore, ontological vagueness is impossible. The Sleeping Beauty problem reveals that some questions of probability are properly answered using a generalized variant of standard conditionalization that is applicable to essentially indexical self-locational possibilities, and deploys "preliminary" probabilities of such possibilities that are not prior probabilities. The volume also includes three new essays: one on Newcomb's problem, one on the Sleeping Beauty problem, and an essay on epistemic probability that articulates and motivates a number of novel claims about epistemic probability that Horgan has come to espouse in the course of his writings on paradoxes. A common theme unifying these essays is that philosophically interesting paradoxes typically resist either easy solutions or solutions that are formally/mathematically highly technical. Another unifying theme is that such paradoxes often have deep-sometimes disturbing-philosophical morals.
Philosophical modeling is as old as philosophy itself; examples range from Plato's Cave and the Divided Line to Rawls's original position. What is new are the astounding computational resources now available for philosophical modeling. Although the computer cannot offer a substitute for philosophical research, it can offer an important new environment for philosophical research. The authors present a series of exploratory examples of computer modeling, using a range of computational techniques to illuminate a variety of questions in philosophy and philosophical logic. Topics include self-reference and paradox in fuzzy logics, varieties of epistemic chaos, fractal images of formal systems, and cellular automata models in game theory. Examples in the last category include models for the evolution of generosity, possible causes and cures for discrimination, and the formal undecidability of patterns of social and biological interaction. The cross-platform CD-ROM provided with the book contains a variety of working examples, in color and often operating dynamically, embedded in a text that parallels that of the book. Source code of all major programs is included to facilitate further research.
There are a number of problems in philosophy that seem to share a similar possible solution: 'Why do promises and contracts bind?', 'Why ought citizens and judges obey the law?' and 'Can we realize the gains to be made from cooperation?'. All three problems (as well as some others) share a possible solution in the form of rational internal commitment. Reasons and Intentions is a 'state-of-the-art' overview of the relevant positions on the possibility of such commitment, including critical ones. The introduction provides a survey of the central problem of the volume, 'how the will can bind itself and still be instrumental in nature', and the various positions which are further examined in the contributions. Addressing the question of the relation between intentions and action, the considerations which make an intention rational and how this translates into our conception of (moral) agency, this book brings together specially commissioned essays by the leading scholars in the field.
Combining timeless readings with cutting-edge, current selections, Principles and Practice of American Politics effectively animates today′s institutions and political arrangements in the study of American Government and politics. Each selection is artfully framed by contextual headnotes, and many of the readings are written specifically for the volume. The Eighth Edition includes readings that present institutions of majority rule, the nature of racial discrimination, the proper role of the court, and other issues that provide students an opportunity to think through and discuss their views on the future direction of American civic life.
Managing natural resources that are held in common is a great and grave challenge. It requires addressing the community of users, beneficiaries, and managers. It also requires consideration of how those communities interact with the commons itself. At stake is the prosperity, and even survival, of both the people and the environment. Understanding and improving how we relate to commons has been the focus of much scholarly and practical research in the last 30 years. A quick look at the various natural resource commons surrounding us indicates that this will no doubt continue. Pacific Northwest salmon fisheries represent a system of commons, both complex and illustrative. My past history as administrator of the US. Environmental Protection Agency and my fisherman’s interest in salmon has heightened my sensitivity to the plight of the salmon and the people whose lives they affect. Recently, my wife and I moved back to the Pacific North-west—something the salmon try to do every year as they live out their inspiring life cycles. Unlike us, the salmon do not always find a hospitable environment when they return. There are many reasons: Simply put, there are more people in the salmon’s way, and they struggle more with the problems that come with expanding human populations. A number of reports issued over the past few years have chronicled the broad declines and local extinction of many salmon, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroat stocks in the region. The people who fish for a living and the communities in which they live have been hit hard. Our resource agencies are in danger of being overwhelmed by the complexity and magnitude of the problem. Why are salmon faring so poorly? Who is responsible? What can be done to reverse the recent declines in salmon populations? When tragedy befalls a commons as it has the salmon, I come to no conclusion about who is at fault, and I don’t intend to. The one thing that I am certain of is that the only truly innocent parties in all of this are the salmon and the generations of people yet to come. It seems to me that the responsibility falls upon all of us—fishermen, resource managers, and concerned citizens alike—to take the steps necessary to ensure that salmon populations recover to the point that our children will be able to enjoy the quality of life we once took for granted. While many people focus on how to get the most from commons, groups like the Sustainable Fisheries Foundation emphasize providing and maintaining those natural resources. Their goal is deceptively simple: ”We are trying to put more salmon back in the rivers and lakes of the Pacific Northwest.” Determining exactly how to accomplish this goal has defied the efforts of a great many dedicated and talented people. Many papers and panel discussions, especially reports on the status and trend ofwild salmon populations in the North Pacific, make it clear that many salmon stocks in parts of the lower United States, southern British Columbia, and the west coast of Vancouver Island are not faring well. The decline in salmon numbers in these areas corresponds with a rapidly expanding human population, alterations in land and water use, increasing sediment and containment loads, and heavy fishing pressure by a combination of sport, commercial, and tribal groups.
Using the theory of Prisoner's Dilemma, Prisoners of Reason explores how neoliberalism departs from classic liberalism and how it rests on game theory.
The volume begins with a historical overview of the self in social judgment and outlines the major issues. Subsequent chapters, all written by leading experts in their respective areas, identify and elaborate four major themes regarding the self in social judgment: · the role of the self as an information source for evaluating others, or what has been called 'social projection' · the assumption of personal superiority as reflected in the pervasive tendency for people to view their characteristics more favorably than those of others · the role of the self as a comparison standard from or toward which other people's behaviors and attributes are assimilated or contrasted · the relative weight people place on the individual and collective selves in defining their attributes and comparing them to those of other people
Garrett Hardin's seminal essay "The Tragedy of the Commons" appeared in 1968 and has been at the center of the debate on commonly owned ground or resources such as Western public grazing or the oceans. This is the second edition of a book exploring the issues raised in Hardin's essay. As scarce resources are increasingly strained. It is ever more crucial to identify those resources which are held in common and are therefore prone to "tragic" waste and abuses. The essay in this volume focus on alternate institutional approaches to managing these resources to prevent such tragedy.
