Abstract
Moralising is a venerable last resort strategy. The ancient Melians presented the Athenian generals with a splendid example when in a particularly tight corner. In our Western philosophical tradition moral rhetoric is often couched in the form of reasons for action either external to preference and desire (eg. Kant) or internal to the agent's calculus of desire (e.g., Hume, Gauthier). A third tradition dismisses such rhetoric as the last recourse of the weak (e.g., Aristotle, Nietzsche) whereas a fourth calls for an examination of the social context (e.g., Socrates, Marx, Wittgenstein, Habermas). This paper reports on an experiment which throws some empirical light on these debates and offers a surprising twist to the interpretation of the Melians' plea.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aristotle, Politics.
Friedman, D.: 1991, 'Evolutionary Games', Econometrica, 59, 637-666
Foddy, M.: 1989, 'Information Control as a Bargaining Tactic in Social Exchange', in E. J. Lawler and B. Markovsky Barry (eds.), Advances in Group Processes, Volume 6. A Research Annual, JAI Press, Greenwich, Conn. and London.
Gauthier, D.: 1986, Morals by Agreement, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Gilbert, M.: 1989, On Social Facts, Routledge, London.
Habermas, J.: 1990, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, in C. Lenhardt and S. Nicholsen (trans.), Polity Press, Oxford.
Hargreaves Heap, S. and Varoufakis, Y.: 1995, Game Theory: A Critical Introduction, Routledge, London.
Hegel, G. W. F.: 1953, Reason in History, in J. Baillie (trans.), Macmillan, London.
Hollis, M.: 1989, 'Honour Among Thieves', Proceedings of the British Academy LXXV, 163-180
Hollis, M.: 1991, 'Penny Pinching and Backward Induction', Journal of Philosophy 88, 473-488
Hollis, M.: 1993, 'The Agriculture of the Mind' in D. Gauthier and R. Sugden (eds), Rationality, Justice and the Social Contract, Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead.
Hollis, M. and Sugden, R.: 1993, 'Rationality in Action', Mind 102, 1-35.
Hume, D.: 1740, A Treatise on Human Nature, 1978 edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford
Kant, I.: 1788, Critique of Practical Reason, in L. Beck (trans. and ed.), Critique of Practical Reason and other writings in Moral Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Kant, I.: 1959, The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Longmans, London.
Marx, K.: 1963, The Poverty of Philosophy, International Publishers, New York.
Nietzsche, F.: 1973, Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Penguin, Hammondsworth.
Pettit, P. and Sugden, R.: 1989, 'The Paradox of Backward Induction', Journal of Philosophy 86, 169-182
Rowe, C.: 1993, 'Ethics in Ancient Greece' in P. Singer (ed), A Companion to Ethics, Blackwell, Oxford.
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War.
Varoufakis, Y.: 1991, Rational Conflict, Blackwell, Oxford.
Varoufakis, Y.: 1993, 'Modern and Postmodern Challenges to Game Theory', Erkenntnis 38, 371-404.
Varoufakis, Y. and Hargreaves-Heap, S.: 1994, 'Dominated Cooperative Strategies and Equilibrium Selection: Some Additional Evidence', mimeo, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Wittgenstein, L.: 1953, Philosophical Investigations, Blackwell, Oxford.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Varoufakis, Y. MORAL RHETORIC IN THE FACE OF STRATEGIC WEAKNESS: EMPERIMENTAL CLUES FOR AN ANCIENT PUZZLE. Erkenntnis 46, 87–110 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005335518281
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005335518281