The World the Game Theorists Made

Paul Erickson

$62.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Chicago University Press
04 November 2015

Mathematics & Sciences; Game theory; History of science

In recent decades game theory - the mathematics of rational decision-making by interacting individuals - has assumed a central place in our understanding of capitalist markets, the evolution of social behavior in animals, and even the ethics of altruism and fairness in human beings.

With game theory's ubiquity, however, has come a great deal of misunderstanding. Critics of the contemporary social sciences view it as part of an unwelcome trend toward the marginalization of historicist and interpretive styles of inquiry, and many accuse its proponents of presenting a thin and empirically dubious view of human choice. The World the Game Theorists Made seeks to explain the ascendency of game theory, focusing on the poorly understood period between the publication of John von Neumann and Oscar Morgenstern's seminal Theory of Games and Economic Behavior in 1944 and the theory's revival in economics in the 1980s.

Drawing on a diverse collection of institutional archives, personal correspondence and papers, and interviews, Paul Erickson shows how game theory offered social scientists, biologists, military strategists, and others a common, flexible language that could facilitate wide-ranging thought and debate on some of the most critical issues of the day.

By: Paul Erickson
Imprint: Chicago University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 23mm, Width: 16mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 595g
ISBN: 9780226097176
ISBN 10: 022609717X
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 04 November 2015
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Erickson is assistant professor of history, environmental studies, and science in society at Wesleyan University. He is coauthor of How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind: The Strange Carrer of Cold War Rationality, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews for The World the Game Theorists Made

"""Erickson has written a vital book. He shows how game theory has survived despite its repeated failure to fulfill the highest hopes of its exponents. This is an outstanding and sure-to-be influential study of twentieth-century science and social thought."" (Joel Isaac, Christ's College, Cambridge)"