Game theory, sociodynamics, and cultural evolution

Werner Leinfellner

pp. 197-210

in: Werner Leinfellner, Eckehart Köhler (eds), Game theory, experience, rationality, Berlin, Springer, 1998

Abstract

Since Neumann and Morgenstern's theory of games, the debate among social scientists, economists, mathematicians, and social philosophers about what kind of theory it is has not ended. Some think that it is a new interdiscipline, some that it is a mere accumulation of gametheoretical models, such as utility theory, competitive, cooperative, collective choice models, and so on. Most of them agree that the models of game theory deal with isolated, single, and independent specific societal interactions between individuals who wish to maximize their gains and minimize their losses within prescribed constraining rules.