The most important analytical tool in non-cooperative game theory is the concept of a Nash equilibrium, which is a collection of possibly mixed strategies, one for each player, with the property that each player's strategy is a best reply to the strategies of the other players. If we do not go into normative game theory, which concerns itself with the recommendation of strategies, and focus instead entirely on the positive theory of prediction, two alternative interpretations of the Nash equilibrium concept (...) are predominantly available.In the more traditional one, a Nash equilibrium is a prediction of actual play. A game may not have a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies, and a mixed strategy equilibrium may be difficult to incorporate into this interpretation if it involves the idea of actual randomization over equally good pure strategies. In another interpretation originating from Harsanyi, see also Rubinstein, and Aumann and Brandenburger, a Nash equilibrium is a ‘consistent’ collection of probabilistic expectations, conjectures, on the players. It is consistent in the sense that for each player each pure strategy, which has positive probability according to the conjecture about that player, is indeed a best reply to the conjectures about others. (shrink)

We generalize the concept of Nash equilibrium in mixed strategies for strategic form games to allow for ambiguity in the players' expectations. In contrast to other contributions, we model ambiguity by means of so-called lower probability measures or belief functions, which makes it possible to distinguish between a player's assessment of ambiguity and his attitude towards ambiguity. We also generalize the concept of trembling hand perfect equilibrium. Finally, we demonstrate that for certain attitudes towards ambiguity it is possible to explain (...) cooperation in the one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma in a way that is in accordance with some recent experimental findings. (shrink)

We define an evolutionary process of “economic Darwinism” for playing the field, symmetric games. The process captures two forces. One is “economic selection”: if current behavior leads to payoff differences, behavior yielding lowest payoff has strictly positive probability of being replaced by an arbitrary behavior. The other is “mutation”: any behavior has at any point in time a strictly positive, very small probability of shifting to an arbitrary behavior. We show that behavior observed frequently is in accordance with “evolutionary equilibrium”, (...) a static equilibrium concept suggested in the literature. Using this result, we demonstrate that generally under positive (negative) externalities, economic Darwinism implies even more under- (over-)activity than does Nash equilibrium. (shrink)

This paper uses a two-dimensional version of a standard common consequence experiment to test the intransitivity explanation of Allais-paradox-type violations of expected utility theory. We compare the common consequence effect of two choice problems differing only with respect to whether alternatives are statistically correlated or independent. We framed the experiment so that intransitive preferences could explain violating behavior when alternatives are independent, but not when they are correlated. We found the same pattern of violation in the two cases. This is (...) evidence against intransitivity as an explanation of the Allais Paradox. The question whether violations of expected utility are mainly due to intransitivity or to violation of independence is important since it is exactly on this issue the main new decision theories differ. (shrink)

John Rawls' bog En teori om retfærdighed er blandt de absolut vigtigste værker i det 20. århundredes politiske filosofi. Det udkom første gang i 1971 og markerede et brud med en udbredt skepsis over for normative politiske teorier, det vil sige teorier, om hvorledes samfundet bør være indrettet. Med en sofistikeret version af klassisk kontraktteori argumenterer Rawls for en socialliberal vision om retfærdighed, hvor enhver sikres en frihed, der er forenelig med alles tilsvarende frihed, hvor de økonomisk dårligst stillede skal (...) stilles bedst muligt. I nærværende antologi diskuterer en række forskere vigtige temaer i såvel det nævnte hovedværk, som hans øvrige forfatterskab. Bidragene introducerer derved ikke blot til Rawls' politiske filosofi, men også til diskussioner, der står helt centralt i nyere politisk teori såsom vores forhold til fremtidige generationer, civil ulydighed og global retfærdighed. (shrink)

Michael Hviid Jacobsen and Poul Poder, Om Bauman. Kritiske essays.

Series editor's foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- The life and times of Erving Goffman -- Reading Goffman "backwards" -- Goffman's "mixed methods" -- Goffman's sociology of everyday life interaction -- Goffman's sociology of deviance -- Goffman and the self -- Goffman on frames, genderisms and talk -- Reading Goffman "forwards" -- The legacy of Erving Goffman -- Further readings.

How does man find himself in a society that cannot offer clear answers to the fundamental question: What is the meaning of existence? This introduction to Søren Kierkegaard's psychological thinking may provide part of the answer. For those interested in psychology and philosophy and anyone else interested in existential dilemmas.

Ce livre s'efforce de clarifier ce que sont "les droits de l'homme" et d'en proposer une conceptualisation qui correspondrait mieux aux besoins contemporains. Il faut d'abord dégager la vision morale à la base des principaux discours sur lesdits droits. Ce faisant, l'auteur soumet une nouvelle conceptualisation des théories morales - elle permet de mieux comprendre l'histoire de la morale, de rééquilibrer les rapports entre théories dites "déontologiques" et "téléologiques". Mais les théories morales ne sont-elles pas, dans un certain sens, téléologiques? (...) Les droits de l'homme du XVIIIe siècle étaient conçus comme la transposition sous forme de règles traçant les limites de la liberté ; ceux établis par l'ONU, au XXe siècle (1948), visaient les biens nécessaires à la perfection de l'homme. Il faut reconnaître que les deux traditions ne s'harmonisent pas dans l'actuel cadre international des droits de l'homme. Dans ses réflexions, l'auteur esquisse quelques solutions."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Herausgegeben von Walter Senner OP (Federf hrender Herausgeber), Kaspar Elm, Thomas Eggensperger OP, Isnard W. Frank OP, Ulrich Horst OP Mit neuen Methoden und Fragestellungen ist in den letzten Jahrzehnten die Erforschung der Geschichte der Bettelorden vorangetrieben und ihre ber die engere Ordens- und Kirchengeschichte hinausgehende Bedeutung f r Politik-, Wirtschafts- und Sozial-, f r Bildungs- und Geistesgeschichte herausgearbeitet worden. Zur Intensivierung und Koordinierung der sie ber hrenden Forschungen gibt die deutsche Dominikanerprovinz Teutonia die Reihe "Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte (...) des Dominikanerordens. Neue Folge" heraus. Auch in der Neuen Folge wird die Geschichte der Dominikaner im deutschen Sprachraum den Schwerpunkt bilden. Es werden auch wichtige Untersuchungen zur Ordensverfassung und Fr mmigkeit, zur Philosophie und Theologie aufgenommen, die f r den Dominikanerorden im Untersuchungsraum Verbindlichkeit oder Bedeutsamkeit hatten, selbst wenn die untersuchte Thematik ihrer Entstehung nach nicht speziell mit den deutschen Dominikanern und Dominikanerinnen zu tun hatte. Der Begriff Dominikanerorden wird in einem weiten Sinn verstanden. Alle Gemeinschaften, die nach rechtlicher Verfassung oder geistlicher Ausrichtung mit den Dominikanern zu tun hatten, werden ihm subsumiert: der Predigerorden, die dominikanischen Frauenkl ster und -gemeinschaften, die losen Verb nde der Dritten Orden sowie die verschiedenen Bruderschaften. Dem Zeitraum nach ist Forschungsgegenstand die Geschichte des Dominikanerordens von den Anf ngen bis in die unmittelbare Vergangenheit. Dabei ist auch gedacht an die Aufarbeitung von Entstehen und Geschichte der verschiedenen dominikanischen Frauengemeinschaften des 19. Jahrhunderts, die mit ihren religi sen und sozialen Aktivit ten in der sich rasch wandelnden Gesellschaft eine bedeutende, bisher meist untersch tzte Rolle spielten. Zum Lehrstuhl von P. Prof. Walter Senner OP: http: //philo.pust.op.org/prof/senner/index.html Zur Seite von Dr. theol. Thomas Eggensperger OP, M.A. http: //www.institut-chenu.eu. (shrink)

Global climate change is likely to become a major cause of future migration. Small Island States are particularly vulnerable since territorial destruction caused by sea level rise poses a threat to their entire existence. This raises important issues concerning state sovereignty and self-determination. Is it possible for a state to remain self-determining even if it lacks a stable population residing on a specific territory? It has been suggested that migrants from disappearing Small Island States could continue to exercise sovereign control (...) over their abandoned territory. Such an arrangement would allow them to retain a measure of self-determination. The question posed in this paper is whether this ?deterritorialized state proposal? is conceptually plausible and normatively acceptable. It is argued that the proposal is conceptually plausible if we adopt a gradual understanding of ?self-determination?, but that its normative acceptability is weak even if it is supplemented with compensatory measures. (shrink)

This volume explores the emotions that are intricately woven into the texture of everyday life and experience. A contribution to the literature on the sociology of emotions, it focuses on the role of emotions as being integral to daily life, broadening our understanding by examining both ¿core¿ emotions and those that are often overlooked or omitted from more conventional studies. Bringing together theoretical and empirical studies from scholars across a range of subjects, including sociology, psychology, cultural studies, history, politics and (...) cognitive science, this international collection centres on the ¿everyday-ness¿ of emotional experience. (shrink)

It is a common mistake, especially, perhaps, among students of the religions and philosophies of India, to assume that the word prakṛti, best known as the ultimate material principle in the Sāṃkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought, the material cause of the world in Hindu theologies and, as such, an epithet of the goddesses in Hinduism, always refers to an ultimate principle. Even in Sāṃkhya and Yoga texts the word prakṛti is used in various ways. Prakṛti does not always (...) refer to the ultimate principle. Translators often leave the word prakṛti untranslated and mislead the reader to assume that the ultimate principle is referred to, when it is not. This article discusses the use of prakṛti in the Sāṃkhya-Yoga texts the Yogasūtra and the Vyāsabhāṣya and criticises some translation practices. (shrink)

On the basis of a chronological approach of the decision-making process with regard to the recognition of the PRC we concluded in an analytical part that the decision-making process was merely of the "hypo-institutional" type. Afterwards, we examined the effectivity of the Belgian policy in comparison with the international scientific literature on recognition and with the practice of other small European states. We concluded the non-recognition policy had been ineffective. The relation between "hypo-institutional" decision-making on the one hand and ineffective (...) public policy on the other hand is just one element within a broader research-project : "The effectivity of public policy according to type of decisionmaking". (shrink)

Tekster til Buddhismen. Selected and translated by Frede Möller-Kristensen. Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1980. 104 pp. Illustrated. D.Kr.68.50.

Mental time travel is the ability to mentally project oneself backward in time to relive past experiences and forward in time to pre-live possible future experiences. Previous work has focused on MTT in its voluntary form. Here, we introduce the notion of involuntary MTT. We examined involuntary versus voluntary and past versus future MTT in a diary study. We found that involuntary future event representations—defined as representations of possible personal future events that come to mind with no preceding search attempts—were (...) as common as involuntary autobiographical memories and similar to them regarding cuing and subjective qualities. Future MTT involved more positive and idyllic representations than past MTT. MTT into the distant future/past involved more representations of cultural life script events than MTT into the immediate past/future. The findings are discussed in relation to cultural learning and MTT considered as a higher mental process. (shrink)

Using Carnap’s concept explication, we propose a theory of concept formation in mathematics. This theory is then applied to the problem of how to understand the relation between the concepts formal proof and informal, mathematical proof.

Introduction -- Theses and discussions -- Analytical concepts -- General approach -- Moral philosophy in antiquity -- Christian moral philosophy -- Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas -- William of Ockham -- From William of Ockham to Francisco Suarez -- Protestant natural law -- John Locke -- The American and French declarations of rights -- Early critique of the Declaration of Rights -- Immanuel Kant and modern moral philosophy -- Human rights today.

Neurobiologically inspired theories of speech perception such as that proposed by Sussman et al. are useful to the extent that they are able to constrain such theories. If they are simply intended as suggestive analogies, their usefulness is questionable. In such cases it is better to stick with the Gibsonian approach of attempting to isolate invariants in speech and to demonstrate their role for the perceiver in perceptual experiments.

In this article I will claim that from a Thomist perspective the question “Soul or Brain: What makes us human?” presents us with a false dilemma and hence must as such remain an unanswerable question. In order to corroborate this claim I will do two things. First, I present the framework of a Thomistic anthropology in so far as it relates to the unity of soul and body in the human person. Next, I deal with the question that immediately results (...) from this unity, i.e. the subsistence of the soul. From a Thomist perspective this question can be answered apart from any findings from neuroscience. (shrink)

St. Thomas’s commentary on the Book of Psalms, known as the Postilla super Psalmos, gives us a privileged insight into the mind and heart of a Dominican friar and theologian at work and at prayer. In this contribution I will elucidate these claims on the basis of elements found in his commentary and in particular in the areas of prayer and the liturgy, Christ, Mary and the Church, Sin and Mercy and Contemplation and Preaching.

This book presents an innovative reading of Daoist philosophy that highlights the critical and therapeutic functions of satire and humor. Moeller and D'Ambrosio show how the Zhuangzi expounds the Daoist art of "genuine pretending" the paradoxical skill of enacting social roles without submitting to them or letting them define one's identity.

"An astutely argued and elegantly written (and translated) book on the philosophical genealogy and logical implications of the work of Jacques Lacan."Choice.

Recently Carrie S. Jenkins formulated an epistemology of mathematics, or rather arithmetic, respecting apriorism, empiricism, and realism. Central is an idea of concept grounding. The adequacy of this idea has been questioned e.g. concerning the grounding of the mathematically central concept of set (or class), and of composite concepts. In this paper we present a view of concept formation in mathematics, based on ideas from Carnap, leading to modifications of Jenkins’s epistemology that may solve some problematic issues with her ideas. (...) But we also present some further problems with her view, concerning the role of proof for mathematical knowledge. (shrink)

Attempts have been made to analyse features in mathematics within a social constructivist context. In this paper we critically examine some of those attempts recently made with focus on problems of the objectivity, ontology, necessity, and atemporality of mathematics. Our conclusion is that these attempts fare no better than traditional alternatives, and that they, furthermore, create new problems of their own.