Is Language a Game?

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Heath
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Predicate Logic ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Expressive Power ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Basic Action ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Power Game

Recent developments in game theory have shown that the mathematical models of action so widely admired in the study of economics are in fact only particular instantiations of a more general theoretical framework. In the same way that Aristotelian logic was ‘translated’ into the more general and expressive language of predicate logic, the basic action theoretic underpinnings of modern economics have now been articulated within the more comprehensive language of game theory. But precisely because of its greater generality and expressive power, game theory has again revived the temptation to apply formal models of action to every domain of social life. This movement has been fuelled by some notable successes. Game theory has provided useful insights into the logic of collective action in the theory of public goods, and strategic models of voting have illustrated important aspects of institutional decision-making. But this extension of formal models into every area of social interaction has also encountered significant difficulties, despite the fact that contemporary decision theory has weakened its basic assumptions to the point where it teeters constantly on the brink of vacuity.

scholarly journals Adaptive coevolutionary networks: a review

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (20) ◽  
pp. 259-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thilo Gross ◽  
Bernd Blasius
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Adaptive Networks ◽  
Biological Applications ◽  
Network Nodes ◽  
Topological Evolution ◽  
Recent Developments

Adaptive networks appear in many biological applications. They combine topological evolution of the network with dynamics in the network nodes. Recently, the dynamics of adaptive networks has been investigated in a number of parallel studies from different fields, ranging from genomics to game theory. Here we review these recent developments and show that they can be viewed from a unique angle. We demonstrate that all these studies are characterized by common themes, most prominently: complex dynamics and robust topological self-organization based on simple local rules.

On Assertoric and Directive Signals and the Evolution of Dynamic Meaning

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Franke
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Game Theory ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Game ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
Modelling Techniques ◽  
Standard Models ◽  
Signalling Games

Basic speech-act distinctions apply quasi-universally across languages, but little attention has been paid so far to formally modelling the evolution of these. Even worse so, standard models of language evolution from evolutionary game theory deliver functionally ambiguous meanings: evolved meanings in Lewisean signalling games seem hybrids between assertions and directives. This has been noted by Lewis (1969) already, but has only recently received renewed attention (Huttegger, 2007; Blume and Board, 2011; Zollman, 2011). Contrary to previous modelling attempts this paper argues that a functional distinction in formal models should be based on criteria that linguistic typology uses to distinguish clause types cross-linguistically. The paper then offers two simple models that delineate assertoric and imperative meanings once by semantic denotation and once by pragmatic effect. The latter requires us to go beyond standard modelling techniques: in order to account for the dynamic meaning element of “giving a directive” we need a mechanism of co-evolving meanings and norms.

The behavioral sciences are historical sciences of emergent complexity

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Arnhart
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Evolutionary Game Theory ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Evolutionary Game ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Behavioral Sciences ◽  
Emergent Complexity ◽  
Nested Hierarchy

Unlike physics and chemistry, the behavioral sciences are historical sciences that explain the fuzzy complexity of social life through historical narratives. Unifying the behavioral sciences through evolutionary game theory would require a nested hierarchy of three kinds of historical narratives: natural history, cultural history, and biographical history.

scholarly journals From Affective Arrangements to Affective Milieus

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Schuetze
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Affect Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Social Dynamic ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
Affect Dynamics

In this paper, I develop the concept of affective milieus by building on the recently established notion of affective arrangements. Affective arrangements bring together the more analytical research of situated affectivity with affect studies informed by cultural theory. As such, this concept takes a step past the usual synchronic understanding of situatedness toward an understanding of the social, dynamic, historical, and cultural situatedness of individuals in relation to situated affectivity. However, I argue that affective arrangements remain too narrow in their scope of analysis since their focus mainly lies on local, marked-off, and unique constellations of affect relations. They neglect the more mundane and day-to-day affect dynamics of social life. Hence, I introduce the notion of affective milieus, which brings to light the everyday, ubiquitous affective engagements of individuals with their socio-material surroundings. Affective milieus specifically call attention to how commonplace affect relations create territories in the social universe which form and mold individuals all the time. In that way, this paper apprehends and advances recent developments in the research on situated affectivity.

Why Sociology Matters to Race and Biosocial Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
Dorothy E. Roberts ◽  
Oliver Rollins
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Social Algorithms

Recent developments in genetics and neuroscience have led to increasing interest in biosocial approaches to social life. While today's biosocial paradigms seek to examine more fully the inextricable relationships between the biological and the social, they have also renewed concerns about the scientific study of race. Our review describes the innovative ways sociologists have designed biosocial models to capture embodied impacts of racism, but also analyzes the potential for these models normatively to reinforce existing racial inequities. First, we examine how concepts and measurements of difference in the postgenomic era have affected scientific knowledges and social practices of racial identity. Next, we assess sociological investigations of racial inequality in the biosocial era, including the implications of the biological disciplines’ move to embrace the social. We conclude with a discussion of the growing interest in social algorithms and their potential to embed past racial injustices in their predictions of the future.

A Theory of Migration and Municipal Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Danielson
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Municipal Politics ◽  
Dynamic Algorithm ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Political Group ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter develops a series of theoretical models of migrant hometown political engagement and municipal politics in Mexico. The models seek to represent the relationship between the dominant political group in the community and emerging migrant actors. The chapter begins by outlining a set of basic assumptions about the characteristics and goals of the key actors in a stylized municipality, before and after the emergence of migrants as an important group. After establishing this context, the model is simplified to focus on the strategic interactions between migrants and prevailing authorities, first with a dynamic algorithm and then as a game theory model. Both migrants and prevailing authorities can choose conforming or fighting strategies; and depending on what each chooses, four outcomes are possible. Game-theory methods are then used to predict actor choices under different conditions and several limits to these models are discussed.

Embedding first order predicate logic in fragments of intuitionistic logic

1976 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Löb
Keyword(s):  
Intuitionistic Logic ◽  
Predicate Logic ◽  
Propositional Calculus ◽  
Expressive Power ◽  
Predicate Calculus ◽  
First Order ◽  
Intuitionistic Propositional Calculus ◽  
Individual Variables ◽  
The One ◽  
Order Predicate Calculus

Some syntactically simple fragments of intuitionistic logic possess considerable expressive power compared with their classical counterparts.In particular, we consider in this paper intuitionistic second order propositional logic (ISPL) a formalisation of which may be obtained by adding to the intuitionistic propositional calculus quantifiers binding propositional variables together with the usual quantifier rules and the axiom scheme (Ex), where is a formula not containing x.The main purpose of this paper is to show that the classical first order predicate calculus with identity can be (isomorphically) embedded in ISPL.It turns out an immediate consequence of this that the classical first order predicate calculus with identity can also be embedded in the fragment (PLA) of the intuitionistic first order predicate calculus whose only logical symbols are → and (.) (universal quantifier) and the only nonlogical symbol (apart from individual variables and parentheses) a single monadic predicate letter.Another consequence is that the classical first order predicate calculus can be embedded in the theory of Heyting algebras.The undecidability of the formal systems under consideration evidently follows immediately from the present results.We shall indicate how the methods employed may be extended to show also that the intuitionistic first order predicate calculus with identity can be embedded in both ISPL and PLA.For the purpose of the present paper it will be convenient to use the following formalisation (S) of ISPL based on [3], rather than the one given above.

When Analytic Narratives Explain

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Alexandrova
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Good Explanation ◽  
Choice Modeling ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Analytic Narrative ◽  
The Way

AbstractRational choice modeling originating in economics is sweeping across many areas of social science. This paper examines a popular methodological proposal for integrating formal models from game theory with more traditional narrative explanations of historical phenomena, known as “analytic narratives”. Under what conditions are we justified in thinking that an analytic narrative provides a good explanation? In this paper I criticize the existing criteria and provide a set of my own. Along the way, I address the critique of analytic narratives by Jon Elster.

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