Description
Book SynopsisBrian Skyrms presents eighteen essays which apply adaptive dynamics (of cultural evolution and individual learning) to social theory. Altruism, spite, fairness, trust, division of labor, and signaling are treated from this perspective. Correlation is seen to be of fundamental importance. Interactions with neighbors in space, on static networks, and on co-evolving dynamics networks are investigated. Spontaneous emergence of social structure and of signaling systems are examined in the context of learning dynamics.
Trade ReviewIt is rewarding and exemplifies a good way of doing formal philosophy. It sheds light on what evolutionary approaches, especially simulations, can and cannot do for philosophy. But mostly, it highlights the fact that our understanding of social phenomena cannot be complete if we neglect a dynamical point of view ... We may not need only books like this in philosophy; but we need some, and we certainly need more of them. And if the recent literature is any indication, we will have them -- in no small part due to Skyrms' remarkable, pioneering work * Cédric Paternotte, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; PART I: CORRELATION AND THE SOCIAL CONTRACT ; Introduction to part I ; 1. Evolution and the Social Contract ; PART II: IMPORTANCE OF DYNAMICS ; Introduction to part II ; 2. Trust, Risk, and the Social Contract ; 3. Bargaining with Neighbors: Is Justice Contagious? ; 4. Stability and Explanatory Significance of Some Simple Evolutionary Models ; 5. Dynamics of Conformist Bias ; 6. Chaos and the Explanatory Significance of Equilibrium: Strange Attractors in Evolutionary Game Dynamics ; 7. Evolutionary Dynamics of Collective Action in N-person Stag Hunt Dilemmas ; 8. Learning to Take Turns ; 9. Evolutionary Considerations in the Framing of Social Norms ; PART III: DYNAMIC NETWORKS ; Introduction to part III ; 10. Learning to Network ; 11. A Dynamic Model of Social Network Formation ; 12. Network Formation by Reinforcement Learning: The Long and the Medium Run ; 13. Time to Absorption in Discounted Reinforcement Models ; PART IV: DYNAMICS OF SIGNALS ; Introduction to part IV ; 14. Learning to Signal: Analysis of a Micro-Level Reinforcement Model ; 15. Inventing New Signals ; 16. Signals, Evolution and the Explanatory Power of Transient Information ; 17. Co-Evolution of Pre-Play Signaling and Cooperation ; 18. Evolution of Signaling Systems with Multiple Senders and Receivers ; Index
