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Steven J. Brams
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Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.001.0001
EISBN: 9780262347792
A game-theoretical analysis of interactions between a human being and an omnipotent and omniscient godlike being highlights the inherent unknowability of the latter's superiority. In Divine Games , Steven Brams analyzes games that a human being might play with an omnipotent and omniscient godlike being. Drawing on game theory and his own theory of moves, Brams combines the analysis of thorny theological questions, suggested by Pascal's wager (which considers the rewards and penalties associated with belief or nonbelief in God) and Newcomb's problem (in which a godlike being has near omniscience) with the analysis of several stories from the Hebrew Bible. Almost all of these stories involve conflict between God or a surrogate and a human player; their representation as games raises fundamental questions about God's superiority. In some games God appears vulnerable (after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit in defiance of His command), in other games his actions seem morally dubious (when He subjects Abraham and Job to extreme tests of their faith), and in still other games He has a propensity to hold grudges (in preventing Moses from entering the Promised Land and in undermining the kingship of Saul). If the behavior of a superior being is indistinguishable from that of an ordinary human being, his existence would appear undecidable, or inherently unknowable. Consequently, Brams argues that keeping an open mind about the existence of a superior being is an appropriate theological stance.
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0001
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0002
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0003
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0004
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0005
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0006
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0007
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0008
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0009
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0010
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0011
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0012
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0013
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0014
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0015
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0016
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 18 September 2018
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11683.003.0017
EISBN: 9780262347792
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 04 March 2011
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/9780262015226.001.0001
EISBN: 9780262295932
How game theory can offer insights into literary, historical, and philosophical texts ranging from Macbeth to Supreme Court decisions. 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.
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 04 March 2011
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/8806.003.0001
EISBN: 9780262295932