Prisoner’s Dilemma (Stanford Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Encyclopedia entry last revised in 2019.
SEP
Encyclopedia entry last revised in 2019.
SEP
Gauthier and the Prisoner's Dilemma (Dialogue 2016)
The Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) plays a central, but shifting, role in David Gauthier’s moral theorizing. In “Morality and Advantage,” it provides a model, demonstrating how morality can have seemingly contradictory properties. In Morals by Agreement, it poses a special problem for the view that moral behaviour is individually rational. Authorities on game theory have subsequently disputed the idea that the PD is an appropriate tool for thinking about moral theory. In the first part of this paper, I examine the roles of the PD in Gauthier’s writings. In the second part, I outline a project, with both descriptive and normative components, that develops the insights of “Morality and Advantage” while preserving it from the game theorists’ attack.
Draft Published Version (Cambridge)
The Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) plays a central, but shifting, role in David Gauthier’s moral theorizing. In “Morality and Advantage,” it provides a model, demonstrating how morality can have seemingly contradictory properties. In Morals by Agreement, it poses a special problem for the view that moral behaviour is individually rational. Authorities on game theory have subsequently disputed the idea that the PD is an appropriate tool for thinking about moral theory. In the first part of this paper, I examine the roles of the PD in Gauthier’s writings. In the second part, I outline a project, with both descriptive and normative components, that develops the insights of “Morality and Advantage” while preserving it from the game theorists’ attack.
Draft Published Version (Cambridge)
The Impure Game: Feasible Payoffs and Possible Generalizations (manuscript 2005)
The space of feasible payoffs for the impure prisoner's dilemma described in the the Economics and Philosophy paper is characterized mathematically and the question of whether the concept of purity can be usefully extended to other games is discussed.
Manuscript
The space of feasible payoffs for the impure prisoner's dilemma described in the the Economics and Philosophy paper is characterized mathematically and the question of whether the concept of purity can be usefully extended to other games is discussed.
Manuscript
Reflections on Ethics and Game Theory, (Synthese 2004).
Two obstacles have impeded applications of game theory to moral philosophy: (1) insufficient attention to the technical framework most appropriate for the application and to its proper interpretation (2) troublesome examples that seem to undermine purported applications. We air a number of issues about appropriate framework, paying special attention to solution concepts, dynamics, and available information for evolutionary games, and we discuss five troublesome examples.
Draft Published Version (Springer)
Two obstacles have impeded applications of game theory to moral philosophy: (1) insufficient attention to the technical framework most appropriate for the application and to its proper interpretation (2) troublesome examples that seem to undermine purported applications. We air a number of issues about appropriate framework, paying special attention to solution concepts, dynamics, and available information for evolutionary games, and we discuss five troublesome examples.
Draft Published Version (Springer)
Agreement Keeping and Indirect Moral Theory (Journal of Philosophy, 1996)
The attractive view that, at least in the case of agreement keeping, morality coincides with mutual advantage faces two difficulties: (1) mutual advantage may require randomized behavior where morality does not, and (2) when circumstances change between the times of agreement making and agreement keeping, morality may require greater fidelity than mutual advantage. Both difficulties can be alleviated by adopting an indirect theory, on which right action is that prompted by attitudes inculcated by ideal moral education. An indirect contractarian theory has additional virtues.
Draft Published Version (JStor)
The attractive view that, at least in the case of agreement keeping, morality coincides with mutual advantage faces two difficulties: (1) mutual advantage may require randomized behavior where morality does not, and (2) when circumstances change between the times of agreement making and agreement keeping, morality may require greater fidelity than mutual advantage. Both difficulties can be alleviated by adopting an indirect theory, on which right action is that prompted by attitudes inculcated by ideal moral education. An indirect contractarian theory has additional virtues.
Draft Published Version (JStor)
(with Serge Morese) Pure and Utilitarian Prisoner's Dilemmas (Economics and Philosophy 1995)
Prisoner's dilemma games are characterized carefully. Two distintions are drawn: that between pure (where mutual cooperation is pareto optimal) and impure (where that outcome is pareto inferior to a pair of independent mixed strategies), and that between utilitarian (where mutual cooperation maximizes total utility) and non-utilitarian (where it does not). An example from moral philosophy illustrates the significance of the first distinction and one from the law to illustrate the significance of the second.
Draft Published Version (Cambridge)
Prisoner's dilemma games are characterized carefully. Two distintions are drawn: that between pure (where mutual cooperation is pareto optimal) and impure (where that outcome is pareto inferior to a pair of independent mixed strategies), and that between utilitarian (where mutual cooperation maximizes total utility) and non-utilitarian (where it does not). An example from moral philosophy illustrates the significance of the first distinction and one from the law to illustrate the significance of the second.
Draft Published Version (Cambridge)