Game Theory and the Humanities ─ Bridging Two Worlds

Game theory models are ubiquitous in economics, common in political science, andincreasingly used in psychology and sociology; in evolutionary biology, they offer compellingexplanations for competition in nature. But game theory has been only sporadically applied to thehumanities; indeed, we almost never associate mathematical calculations of strategic choice with theworlds of literature, history, and philosophy. And yet, as Steven Brams shows, game theory canilluminate the rational choices made by characters in texts ranging from the Bible to JosephHeller's Catch-22 and can explicate strategic questions in law, history, andphilosophy. Much of Brams's analysis is based on the theory of moves (TOM), which is grounded ingame theory, and which he develops gradually and applies systematically throughout. TOM illuminatesthe dynamics of player choices, including their misperceptions, deceptions, and uses of differentkinds of power.

Brams examines such topics as the outcome and payoff matrix ofPascal's wager on the existence of God; the strategic games played by presidents and Supreme Courtjustices; and how information was slowly uncovered in the game played by Hamlet and Claudius. Thereader gains not just new insights into the actions of certain literary and historical charactersbut also a larger strategic perspective on the choices that make us human.