Bücher der Reihe Theory and Decision Library

The theory of games, properly understood, is a very broad approach to social interaction based on individually rational behavior, and it connects closely with fundamental methodological and substantive issues in social science and in ethics.

Decision theory as a new interdiscipline of social sciences is actually an assemblage of a variety of subtheories such as value-utility theory, game theory, collective decision theory, etc.

Philosophy of Science deals with the problem, 'What is science?' It seems that the answer to this question can only be found if we have an answer to the question, 'How does science function?' Thus, the study of the methodology of social sciences is a prominent factor in any analysis of these sciences.

The first article, by John Marshall and Roger Wales (Great Britain) concerns the pragmatic values of communication, starting by considering bird-song and passing to the infinitely more complex 'meaningful' values of human language and pictures.

Further, a player is rational in the sense that he assumes that every other player is rational in the above sense. The rational player utilizes knowledge of the other players' payoffs in guiding his choice of strategy, because it gives him information about how the other players' choices are guided.

Investigations of this kind, that can be described as belonging to an ana lytical philosophy of technology, form the topic of this anthology. But it is an astonishing fact that the commonly accepted and carefully investigated philosophy of science has not yet found its counterpart in an established philosophy of technology.

The present volume brings together current interdisciplinary research which adds up to an evolutionary theory of human knowledge, Le.

The papers in this volume consist of the invited lectures delivered at the Conference, Section 7: Non-Classical Logics and Modelling, as well as some selected papers which offer an introduction to the philosophy, methodology and to the lite rature of the broad and fascinating field of vagueness, imprecision and uncertainty.

Thi s book ari ses from The Fourth European Coll oqui urn on Theoret i ca 1 and Quant itat i ve Geography wh i ch was he 1 din Ve 1 dhoven, The Netherlands in September 1985. It would have been impossible to produce this book without the support of the various European study groups on theoretical and quantitative geography.

Proceedings of an Interdisciplinary Research Conference, Rome, September 3-6, 1973

Proceedings of the Fifth Research Conference on Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making, Darmstadt 1975

The present volume helps to understand how the collection of miscellaneous disciplines, called the science of science, came into being. To be sure, theory of knowledge is not to be identified with theory of science. What we call today the science of science is not concerned with, say, the Kantian question how synthetic a priori truths are possible.

This collection of articles contains contributions from a few of Werner Leinfellner's many friends and colleagues. Further, some have come to know Werner through his research, his long-standing editorship of Theory and Deci sion and his extensive participation in international conferences and congresses.

Proceedings of an Interdisciplinary Research Conference, Rome, September 3-6, 1973

In the last decade, geographers significantly -augmented their methodologi cal base by developing quantitative techniques which are specifically directed towards analysis of explicitly spatial problems.

The purpose o~ the con~erence was to provide a ~orum within which scientists could report on interesting applications o~ modern decision theory and exchange ideas about controversial issues in the ~oundations o~ the theory o~ choice under un certainty.

Utility theory or, value theory in general, is certainly the cornerstone of decision theory, game theory, microecon~mics, and all social and political theories which deal with public decisions.

For instance Amartya Sen - comparing the two current notions of rationality, internal consistency and self-interest pursuit introduces the concept of reasoning and considers the irrationality which may result from the failure of a positive correspondence between reasoning and choice or from a limited capacity of reasoning.

Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of the Austrian and Swiss Operations Research Societies, Vienna, September 22-24, 1980

The present volume collects some of the talks given at the Bertrand Russell Colloquium on Exact Philosophy, attached to the McGill University Foundations and Philosophy of Science Unit.

In the last decade, geographers significantly -augmented their methodologi cal base by developing quantitative techniques which are specifically directed towards analysis of explicitly spatial problems.

In spite of the seeming heterogeneity of topics in its title - Revolutions, Systems, and Theories - this volume purports to be something more than a random collection of Essays in Political Philosophy. The Colloquium of the Philosophy Department of the University of Western Ontario (29-31 Octo­ ber, 1971) at which initial versions of the first eight papers were delivered was entitled 'Political Theory'; and while the organizers anticipated and indeed welcomed topicality in the issues accorded priority arid in the empirical evidence invoked, they were also hoping for a reasonably comprehensive explorat ion of some of the central issues of political philosophy. For this reason it was quickly decided that in such a field a philosophical focus on clarification of ordering concepts required the suppIement - and test - of researches into more particular subject maUers by social scientists. Thus, to speak in general terms (where the specializatlons and their taxonomies multi­ ply fissiparously!), contributors include political scientists, economists and sociologists (Barnard, Baston, Tullock, Rapoport) as well as philosophers (Scriven, Morgenbesser, Braybrooke, TayIor), and juxtaposed as proponents and commentators ·to generate exchanges across disciplinary frontiers. While the five additional invited papers are alI by professional philosophers, they extend the original Colloquium either by continuing controversy on its funda­ mental issues (e. g. , Rubinoff, Nielsen, Roy) or by their continued explorations in what are acknowledged to be boundary areas (e. g. , Schick, Wartofsky). The greatest topical emphasis is that on revolution.

One of the most promising trends in modem political science is the develop ment of a theory of politics as rational action.

The purpose o~ the con~erence was to provide a ~orum within which scientists could report on interesting applications o~ modern decision theory and exchange ideas about controversial issues in the ~oundations o~ the theory o~ choice under un certainty.

Proceedings of the Fifth Research Conference on Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making, Darmstadt 1975

The observation that utility and risk theory now appears to be in a state of rapid change has prompted us to choose the title PROGRESS IN UTILITY AND RISK THEORY for the book, in the belief that science always moves from poorer to more advanced paradigms or from weaker to more forceful theories.

The first article, by John Marshall and Roger Wales (Great Britain) concerns the pragmatic values of communication, starting by considering bird-song and passing to the infinitely more complex 'meaningful' values of human language and pictures.

The term has since been used to cover a broad variety of ethical considerations including those associated with the ideas of impartiality, consistency, justice, equality, and reversibility as well as those raised in the familar questions: 'What if everyone did that?' and 'How would you like it if someone did that to you?