30 found
Order:
  1.  24
    Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism.S. M. Amadae - 2003 - Chicago, IL, USA: University of Chicago Press.
    This book discusses how rational choice theory grew out of RAND's work for the US Air Force. It concentrates on the work of William J. Riker, Kenneth J. Arrow, James M. Buchanan, Russel Hardin, and John Rawls. It argues that within the context of the US Cold War with its intensive anti-communist and anti-collectivist sentiment, the foundations of capitalist democracy were grounded in the hyper individualist theory of non-cooperative games.
  2. Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and Neoliberal Political Economy.S. M. Amadae (ed.) - 2015 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
    Is capitalism inherently predatory? Must there be winners and losers? Is public interest outdated and free-riding rational? Is consumer choice the same as self-determination? Must bargainers abandon the no-harm principle? Prisoners of Reason recalls that classical liberal capitalism exalted the no-harm principle. Although imperfect and exclusionary, modern liberalism recognized individual human dignity alongside individuals' responsibility to respect others. Neoliberalism, by contrast, views life as ceaseless struggle. Agents vie for scarce resources in antagonistic competition in which every individual seeks dominance. This (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   10 citations  
  3. "Deterrence,".S. M. Amadae - 2015 - In Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and Neoliberal Political Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 99-140.
  4. Computable Rationality, NUTS, and the Nuclear Leviathan.S. M. Amadae - 2018 - In Daniel Bessner & Nicolas Guilhot (eds.), The Decisionist Imagination: Democracy, Sovereignty and Social Science in the 20th Century.
    This paper explores how the Leviathan that projects power through nuclear arms exercises a unique nuclearized sovereignty. In the case of nuclear superpowers, this sovereignty extends to wielding the power to destroy human civilization as we know it across the globe. Nuclearized sovereignty depends on a hybrid form of power encompassing human decision-makers in a hierarchical chain of command, and all of the technical and computerized functions necessary to maintain command and control at every moment of the sovereign's existence: this (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  5. Normativity and Instrumentalism in David Lewis’ Convention.S. M. Amadae - 2011 - History of European Ideas 37 (3):325-335.
    David Lewis presented Convention as an alternative to the conventionalism characteristic of early-twentieth-century analytic philosophy. Rudolf Carnap is well known for suggesting the arbitrariness of any particular linguistic convention for engaging in scientific inquiry. Analytic truths are self-consistent, and are not checked against empirical facts to ascertain their veracity. In keeping with the logical positivists before him, Lewis concludes that linguistic communication is conventional. However, despite his firm allegiance to conventions underlying not just languages but also social customs, he pioneered (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   5 citations  
  6. (1 other version)Chapter 7 Cryptocurrency, Distributed Ledger Technology and Blockchain Tokens.S. M. Amadae - 2023 - In Sustainable Consumption: Political Economy of Sustainable Food. Aalto University. pp. 199-241.
    This chapter discusses cryptocurrency, distributed ledger technology and blockchain tokens within the context of technological innovation, the history of money and accounting practices, and their multiple functionalities beyond those of standard currencies. This discussion is motivated by the design of cryptocurrencies for specific community needs, and to reflect anti-rival, positive sum value.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  7. Autonomy and Machine Learning as Risk Factors at the Interface of Nuclear Weapons, Computers and People.S. M. Amadae & Shahar Avin - 2019 - In Vincent Boulanin (ed.), The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Strategic Stability and Nuclear Risk: Euro-Atlantic Perspectives. Stockholm: SIPRI. pp. 105-118.
    This article assesses how autonomy and machine learning impact the existential risk of nuclear war. It situates the problem of cyber security, which proceeds by stealth, within the larger context of nuclear deterrence, which is effective when it functions with transparency and credibility. Cyber vulnerabilities poses new weaknesses to the strategic stability provided by nuclear deterrence. This article offers best practices for the use of computer and information technologies integrated into nuclear weapons systems. Focusing on nuclear command and control, avoiding (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  8. Understanding Institutions without Collective Acceptance?Pekka Mäkelä, Raul Hakli & S. M. Amadae - 2018 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 48 (6):608-629.
    Francesco Guala has written an important book proposing a new account of social institutions and criticizing existing ones. We focus on Guala’s critique of collective acceptance theories of institutions, widely discussed in the literature of collective intentionality. Guala argues that at least some of the collective acceptance theories commit their proponents to antinaturalist methodology of social science. What is at stake here is what kind of philosophizing is relevant for the social sciences. We argue that a Searlean version of collective (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  9. Dialectical libertarianism: the unintended consequences of both ethics and incentives underlie mutual prosperity.S. M. Amadae - 2016 - Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 9 (2):37.
    No categories
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  10. Prisoner's Dilemma.S. M. Amadae - 2015 - In Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and Neoliberal Political Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 24-61.
    As these opening quotes acknowledge, the Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) represents a core puzzle within the formal mathematics of game theory.3 Its rise in conspicuity is evident figure 2.1 above demonstrating a relatively steady rise in incidences of the phrase’s usage between 1960 to 1995, with a stable presence persisting into the twenty first century. This famous two-person “game,” with a stock narrative cast in terms of two prisoners who each independently must choose whether to remain silent or speak, each advancing (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  11. (1 other version)Economics Imperialism Reconsidered.S. M. Amadae - 2017 - In Uskali Mäki, Adrian Walsh & Manuela Fernández Pinto (eds.), Scientific Imperialism: Exploring the Boundaries of Interdisciplinarity. Routledge. pp. 140-160.
    This chapter uses Uskali Mäki’s (2009) concepts of “good” and “bad” imperialism to investigate the “economics imperialism” thesis. If science expands by offering (a) consilience, and (b) epistemological and ontological unity – that is, it explains more phenomena with greater parsimony – then this is good scientific expansion. Economics imperialism is only bad if the methodology of economics expands outside its domain without increasing understanding in the above manners.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  12. Red Queen and Red King Effects in Cultural Agent-Based Modeling: Hawk Dove Binary and Systemic Discrimination.S. M. Amadae & Christopher J. Watts - 2022 - Journal of Mathematical Sociology 41.
    What endogenous factors contribute to minority (Red Queen) or majority (Red King) domination under conditions of coercive bargaining? We build on previous work demonstrating minority disadvantage in non-coercive bargaining games to show that under neutral initial conditions, majorities are advantaged in high conflict situations, and minorities are advantaged in low conflict games. These effects are a function of the relationship between (1) relative proportions of the majority and minority groups and (2) costs of conflict. Although both Red King and Red (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  13. Worst-Case Planning: Political Decision Making in the West.S. M. Amadae - 2020 - In Thomas Grossboelting & Stefan Lehr (eds.), Politisches Entscheiden im Kalten Krieg. pp. 249-271.
    The goal of this essay is to explore "the highly contested nature of [decision-making through adopting] a historically comparative and interdisciplinary approach." Internalist history of game theory treats decision theory as a science of making choices to maximize expected gain. Game theory is applied to nuclear deterrence and military strategy, building markets and designing institutions, analyzing collective action, developing jurisprudence, and addressing crime and punishment. This essay draws on recent historiography of Cold War decision-making to draw into focus the constructive (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  14. Game theory, cheap talk and post‐truth politics: David Lewis vs. John Searle on reasons for truth‐telling.S. M. Amadae - 2018 - Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 48 (3):306-329.
    I offer two potential diagnoses of the behavioral norms governing post‐truth politics by comparing the view of language, communication, and truth‐telling put forward by David Lewis (extended by game theorists), and John Searle. My first goal is to specify the different ways in which Lewis, and game theorists more generally, in contrast to Searle (in the company of Paul Grice and Jurgen Habermas), go about explaining the normativity of truthfulness within a linguistic community. The main difference is that for Lewis (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  15. James M. Buchanan, John Rawls, and Democratic Governance.S. M. Amadae - 2011 - In Robert Cavelier (ed.), Approaching Deliberative Democracy. pp. 31-52.
    This article compares James M. Buchanan's and John Rawls's theories of democratic governance. In particular it compares their positions on the characteristics of a legitimate social contract. Where Buchanan argues that additional police force can be used to quell political demonstrations, Rawls argues for a social contract that meets the difference principle.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  16. "Life as Algorithm".S. M. Amadae - 2021 - In Jenny Andersson & Sandra Kemp (eds.), Twenty-First Century Approaches to Literature: Futures.
    This chapter uncovers the complex negotiations for authority in various representations about futures of life which have been advanced by different branches of the sciences, and have culminated in the emerging concept of life as algorithm. It charts the historical shifts in expertise and representations of life, from naturalists, to mathematical modellers, and specialists in computation, and argues that physicists, game theorists, and economists now take a leading role in explaining and projecting futures of life. The chapter identifies Richard Dawkins (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  17. Perpetual anarchy : From economic security to financial insecurity.S. M. Amadae - 2017 - Finance and Society 2 (3):188-96.
    This forum contribution addresses two major themes in de Goede’s original essay on ‘Financial security’: (1) the relationship between stable markets and the proverbial ‘security dilemma’; and (2) the development of new decision-technologies to address risk in the post-World War II period. Its argument is that the confluence of these two themes through rational choice theory represents a fundamental re-evaluation of the security dilemma and its relationship to the rule of law governing market relations, ushering in an era of perpetual (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  18. Nietzsche’s Thirst For India.S. M. Amadae - 2004 - Idealistic Studies 34 (3):239-262.
    This essay represents a novel contribution to Nietzschean studies by combining an assessment of Friedrich Nietzsche’s challenging uses of “truth” and the “eternal return” with his insights drawn from Indian philosophies. Specifically, drawing on Martin Heidegger’s Nietzsche, I argue that Nietzsche’s critique of a static philosophy of being underpinning conceptual truth is best understood in line with the Theravada Buddhist critique of “self ” and “ego” as transitory. In conclusion, I find that Nietzsche’s “eternal return” can be understood as a (...)
    Direct download (5 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  19. Life without Virtue: Economists Rule; Review Essay of Dani Rodrik's Economics Rules.S. M. Amadae - 2020 - Economic Issues 25 (2):51-70.
    This review essay of Economics Rules situates Dani Rodrik’s contribution with respect to the 2007–2008 global economic crisis. This financial meltdown, which the eurozone did not fully recover from before the Covid-19 pandemic, led to soul- searching among economists as well as a call for heterodox economic approaches. Yet, over the past decade, instead the economics profession has maintained its orthodoxy. Rodrik’s Economics Rules offers a critique of the economics profession that is castigating but mild. It calls for economists to (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  20. Utility, Universality, and Impartiality in Adam Smith’s Jurisprudence.S. M. Amadae - 2008 - The Adam Smith Review 4:238-246.
    This paper examines how the concepts of utility, impartiality, and universality worked together to form the foundation of Adam Smith's jurisprudence. It argues that the theory of utility consistent with contemporary rational choice theory is insufficient to account for Smith's use of utility. Smith's jurisprudence relies on the impartial spectator's sympathetic judgment over whether third parties are injured, and not individuals' expected utility associated with individuals' expected gains from rendering judgments over innocence or guilt.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  21. Arrow’s impossibility theorem and the national security state.S. M. Amadae - 2005 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 36 (4):734-743.
    This paper critically engages Philip Mirowki's essay, "The scientific dimensions of social knowledge and their distant echoes in 20th-century American philosophy of science." It argues that although the cold war context of anti-democratic elitism best suited for making decisions about engaging in nuclear war may seem to be politically and ideologically motivated, in fact we need to carefully consider the arguments underlying the new rational choice based political philosophies of the post-WWII era typified by Arrow's impossibility theorem. A distrust of (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  22. National Populist Challenges to Europe’s Center Right: Three Questions for Europe.S. M. Amadae & Henri Aaltonen - 2019 - In Antti Ronkainen & Juri Mykkänen (eds.), Vapiseva Eurooppa. pp. 225-240.
    This paper analyses the National Populist Challenges to Europe’s Center Right. It assesses the cases of the UK, Germany and France. It poses three questions for Europe: How will political integration be achieved and maintained? What policies will foster economic inclusion in the Eurozone? And, third, what are the best means to achieve economic solvency and growth. The paper make a case that neoliberal economic policies over the past decades have undermined some nations' public sector and have also contributed to (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  23. Kansallismielisten populistien haste keskustaoikesistolle ja kolme kysysmystä Euroopan liberaaleille.S. M. Amadae - 2019 - In Antti Ronkainen & Juri Mykkänen (eds.), Vapiseva Eurooppa. pp. 225-240.
    This paper analyses the National Populist Challenges to Europe’s Center Right. It assesses the cases of the UK, Germany and France. It poses three questions for Europe: How will political integration be achieved and maintained? What policies will foster economic inclusion in the Eurozone? And, third, what are the best means to achieve economic solvency and growth. The paper make a case that neoliberal economic policies over the past decades have undermined some nations' public sector and have also contributed to (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  24. The long-term viability of team reasoning.S. M. Amadae & Daniel Lempert - 2015 - Journal of Economic Methodology 22 (4):462-478.
    Team reasoning gives a simple, coherent, and rational explanation for human cooperative behavior. This paper investigates the robustness of team reasoning as an explanation for cooperative behavior, by assessing its long-run viability. We consider an evolutionary game theoretic model in which the population consists of team reasoners and ‘conventional’ individual reasoners. We find that changes in the ludic environment can affect evolutionary outcomes, and that in many circumstances, team reasoning may thrive, even under conditions that, at first glance, may seem (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  25.  22
    Binary Labels Reinforce Systemic Discrimination.S. M. Amadae - 2020 - Noema Magazine.
    Black-white, male-female — these and other markers, applied maliciously or not, enable the social dominance of one group.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  26.  12
    Can Game Theory Combat Discrimination.S. M. Amadae - 2021 - Public Books.
    Originally used to decipher the 1950s nuclear stalemate, the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” might reveal how resources are unfairly distributed today.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  27. Computational Transformation of the Public Sphere: Theories and Cases.S. M. Amadae (ed.) - 2020 - Helsinki: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki.
    This book is an edited collection of original research papers on the digital revolution of the public and governance. It covers cyber governance in Finland, and the securitization of cyber security in Finland. It investigates the cases of Brexit, the 2016 US presidential election of Donald Trump, the 2017 presidential election of Volodymyr Zelensky, and Brexit. It examines the environmental concerns of climate change and greenwashing, and the impact of digital communication giving rise to the #MeToo and Incel movements. It (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  28.  12
    (1 other version)Sustainable Consumption: Political Economy of Sustainable Consumption.S. M. Amadae - 2023 - Otakaari: Aalto University.
    This textbook on sustainable consumption develops a means to mitigate the environmental tragedy of the commons associated with climate change. We diagnosed that two problems to be solved are (1)the negligible impact each individual makes on the global atmospheric commons, and (2) the worry that others will not do their part in making sustainable choices. As well, individuals may not have perfect information about the impact of their consumptive choices. Topics in this book include consumer sovereignty; data and perfect information; (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  29. “The myth of the nuclear revolution: Power politics in the atomic age,”. [REVIEW]Campbell Craig & S. M. Amadae - 2021 - Journal of Strategic Studies 1:1-9.
    This book review of Lieber and Press's “The myth of the nuclear revolution: Power politics in the atomic age" challenges the authors' position that nuclear weapons essentially have the same properties of conventional weapons. We argue that nuclear weapons alter warfare because they can end human civilization, and they pose a shared risk of mutual destruction.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  30. Book ReviewsRichard Tuck,. Free Riding.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008. Pp. 223. $35.00. [REVIEW]S. M. Amadae - 2008 - Ethics 119 (1):211-216.
    This review of Richard Tuck's Free Riding conveys Tuck's crucial distinction between the logic of collective action which fails due to the problem of causal negligibility, and free riding, which has been modeled as a Prisoner's Dilemma and involves casually impacting another actor in an adverse manner. Tuck also distinguishes the practice of voting which he argues neither fails due to the worry of causal negligibility or due to free riding; instead it represents a problem of achieving sufficiency of votes (...)
    Direct download (6 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark