CFP: The Puzzle of Social Behavior: Game Theory and Beyond

Call for Submissions

for the Workshop The Puzzle of Social Behavior: Game Theory and Beyond

organized by Mantas Radzvilas and Wolfgang Spohn within the Reinhart-Koselleck project “Reflexive Decision and Game Theory” at the University of Konstanz and by the Center of Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld.

Time: April 3 – 5, 2025

Place: Center of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Bielefeld

Please find below the description of the workshop and a list of confirmed participants. See also the project’s website, and in particular there at events:

https://www.philosophie.uni-konstanz.de/forschung/drittmittelprojekte/reinhart-koselleck-projekt/

There are up to 5 further slots of 40 minutes (30 minutes talk, 10 minutes discussion) for presentations. Everyone interested in presenting themselves is invited to apply for participation. Early-career researchers and scholars from underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to apply.

For this purpose, please submit an abstract of your talk of at most 1000 words (2 pages) and a CV till January 6, 2025. Decisions on the submissions will be made within four weeks. Those selected will be invited to participate including a coverage of travel and accommodation costs.

Please send your application both to: [email protected] and [email protected]

Abstract: The workshop will be co-organized by the Reinhart-Koselleck project “Reflexive Decision and Game Theory” of Wolfgang Spohn at the University of Konstanz and the Center of Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld. Its game-theoretic part is particularly concerned with foundational issues of game theory. Which is hence the topic of the second workshop of this project.

Social reality is built on the capacity of human beings to engage in social behavior – complex forms of intentional, coordinated actions involving more than one individual. For several decades, game theory has served as the primary conceptual framework for developing a variety of theories aiming to explain social behavior, such as social norms, prosocial preferences, virtual bargaining, and team reasoning theories. All of these theories converge on the idea that social behavior is sustained by sufficiently aligned interests and beliefs of the interacting individuals, yet they disagree on how these necessary alignments of interests and beliefs come about. A number of game-theoretic accounts of social behavior can claim substantial amounts of experimental results as supporting evidence. In many cases, experimental evidence supports multiple accounts equally, thus creating a problem of underdetermination. To conclude, after a number of decades of intensive development, a unified mathematical framework of game theory has not been able to produce a unified account of social behavior.

This conceptually unsatisfactory state of affairs raises a number of important questions. Is there a methodology to select among the competing accounts? Should these accounts be viewed as competing theories of social behavior, or rather as theories that complement one another? Are there better unconsidered alternatives to existing theories? Is game theory truly the best approach towards explaining social behavior?

The purpose of the workshop is to advance the discussion on these and other philosophical questions related to the status of game-theoretic explanations of social behavior.

Confirmed Participants:

Jason Alexander, LSE; Nick Chater, University of Warwick; Zoé Christoff, University of Groningen; Urs Fischbacher, University of Konstanz; Nathalie Gold, LSE; Francesco Guala, University of Milano; Jurgis Karpus, University of Munich; Willemien Kets, University of Utrecht; Michiru Nagatsu, University of Helsinki; Mantas Radzvilas, University of Konstanz; Gerard Rothfus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Julian Nida-Rümelin, University of Munich; Hannes Rau, University of Karlsruhe (KIT); Rory Smead, Northeastern University; Wolfgang Spohn, University of Konstanz; Robert Sugden, University of East Anglia