Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T06:57:33.350Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Initiating Coordination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Abstract

How do rational agents coordinate in a single-stage, noncooperative game? Common knowledge of the payoff matrix and of each player's utility maximization among his strategies does not suffice. This paper argues that utility maximization among intentions and then acts generates coordination yielding a payoff-dominant Nash equilibrium.

Type
Decision and Game Theory
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I thank the audience at my paper's presentation at the 2006 PSA meeting for many insightful points.

References

Bacharach, Michael (2006), Beyond Individual Choice: Teams and Frames in Game Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bratman, Michael (1987), Intentions, Plans, and Practical Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bratman, Michael (1999), Faces of Intention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colman, Andrew (2003), “Cooperation, Psychological Game Theory, and Limitations of Rationality in Social Interaction”, Cooperation, Psychological Game Theory, and Limitations of Rationality in Social Interaction 26:139198.Google ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, Margaret (2001), “Collective Preferences, Obligations, and Rational Choice”, Collective Preferences, Obligations, and Rational Choice 17:109119.Google Scholar
Kavka, Gregory (1983), “The Toxin Puzzle”, The Toxin Puzzle 43:3336.Google Scholar
Regan, Donald (1980), Utilitarianism and Co-operation. Oxford: Clarendon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, Thomas (1960), The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schick, Frederic (2003), Ambiguity and Logic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skyrms, Brian (2004), The Stag Hunt and the Evolution of Social Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sobel, J. Howard (1994), Taking Chances: Essays on Rational Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sober, Elliot, and Wilson, David (1998), Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sugden, Robert (2000), “Team Preferences”, Team Preferences 16:175204.Google Scholar
Verbeek, Bruno (forthcoming), “Rational Self-Commitment”, in Peter, Fabienne and Schmid, Hans (eds.), Rationality and Commitment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar