Game Theory and the Humanities Bridging Two

Game theory models are ubiquitous in economics, common in political science, and increasingly used in psychology and sociology; in evolutionary biology, they offer compelling explanations for competition in nature. But game theory has been only sporadically applied to the humanities; indeed, we almost never associate mathematical calculations of strategic choice with the worlds of literature, history, and philosophy. And yet, as Steven Brams shows, game theory can illuminate the rational choices made by characters in texts ranging from the Bible to Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and can explicate strategic questions in law, history, and philosophy. Much of Brams's analysis is based on the theory of moves (TOM), which is grounded in game theory, and which he develops gradually and applies systematically throughout. TOM illuminates the dynamics of player choices, including their misperceptions, deceptions, and uses of different kinds of power. Brams examines such topics as the outcome and payoff matrix of Pascal's wager on the existence of God; the strategic games played by presidents and Supreme Court justices; and how information was slowly uncovered in the game played by Hamlet and Claudius. The reader gains not just new insights into the actions of certain literary and historical characters but also a larger strategic perspective on the choices that make us human.

Steven J. Brams is Professor of Politics at New York University. He is the author of Biblical Games: Game Theory and the Hebrew Bible (MIT Press, revised edition 2003) and other books.

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Game Theory and Literature: An Overview	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Method of Inquiry	p. 4
Avoidance and Acceptance of the Minimax Theorem	p. 5
Are Zero-Sum Games Emotionless?	p. 11
The Rationality of Tragedy	p. 13
Coordination Problems, Signaling, and Commitment	p. 16
The Devil and God	p. 19
Reputation and Intrapsychic Games	p. 21
Wherein Lies the Future?	p. 24
TheBible: Sacrifice and Unrequited Love	p. 29
Introduction	p. 29
Abraham's Sacrifice	p. 31
What If Abraham Had Refused to Sacrifice Isaac?	p. 42
Samson and Delilah	p. 50
Theory of Moves (TOM)	p. 57
Emotions, Feasible Moves, and Morality	p. 65
Theology: Is It Rational to Believe in God?	p. 69
Introduction	p. 69
Pascal's Wager and the Search Decision	p. 72
The Concern Decision	p. 77
The Revelation Game	p. 81
Decisions versus Games	p. 91
Philosophy: Paradoxes of Fair Division	p. 93
Introduction	p. 93
Criteria and Classification	p. 95
Efficiency and Envy-Freeness: They May Be Incompatible	p. 97
Unique Efficient and Envy-Free Divisions: Their Incompatibility with Other Criteria	p. 100
The Desirability of Unequal Divisions (Sometimes)	p. 102
Summary and Conclusions	p. 108
Political Philosophy: How Democracy Resolves Conflict in Difficult Games	p. 111
Introduction	p. 111
Resolution by Voting in a 2-Person PD	p. 113
Resolution by Voting in an n-Person PD	p. 115
Example of an n-Person PD	p. 117
A Biblical Tale	p. 119
Other Difficult Games	p. 121
Summary and Conclusions	p. 125
Law: Supreme Court Challenges and Jury Selection	p. 127
Introduction	p. 127
The White House Tapes Case	p. 128
Analysis of the White House Tapes Game	p. 136
The Roosevelt Court and the New Deal	p. 140
Jury Selection	p. 146
Summary and Conclusions	p. 152
Plays: Modeling Frustration and Anger	p. 155
Introduction	p. 155
The Frustration Game	p. 159
Lysistrata: Overcoming Frustration with a Credible Threat	p. 165
The Self-Frustration Game	p. 170
Macbeth: From Self-Frustration to Murder	p. 175
Summary and Conclusions	p. 180
History: Magnanimity after Wars	p. 185
Introduction	p. 185
The Two-Sidedness Convention	p. 187
Different Views on the Rationality of Magnanimity after Wars	p. 190
The Magnanimity Game (MG)	p. 191
Applications of MG to Historical Cases	p. 197
Why Did the Confederacy Initiate the U.S. Civil War?	p. 201
Summary and Conclusions	p. 207
Incomplete Information in Literature and History	p. 209
Introduction	p. 209
Information Revelation in Hamlet	p. 211
Incomplete Information in the Magnanimity Game (MG)	p. 217
Misperception in the Iran Hostage Crisis	p. 219
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Moving, Order, and Threat Power	p. 226
Deception in the Cuban Missile Crisis	p. 236
The Paradox of Omniscience	p. 240
Summary and Conclusions	p. 244
Catch-22s in Literature and History	p. 247
Introduction	p. 247
TOM: Cyclic Games	p. 250
Moving Power in TOM	p. 253
The Original Catch-22 Game and the Generic Game	p. 256
The Witch Trials	p. 263
King-of-the-Mountain Games	p. 268
Summary and Conclusions	p. 270
Summary and Conclusions	p. 275
Appendix	p. 281
Glossary	p. 287
References	p. 295
Index	p. 311
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Game Theory and the Humanities Bridging Two Worlds

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