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Philosophy of the Social Sciences
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Reducible and Nonsensical Uses of Game Theory

Boudewijn de Bruin

University of Groningen, The Netherlands

The mathematical tools of game theory are frequently used in the social sciences and economic consultancy. But how do they explain social phenomena and support prescriptive judgments? And is the use of game theory really necessary? I analyze the logical form of explanatory and prescriptive game theoretical statements, and argue for two claims: (1) explanatory game theory can and should be reduced to rational choice theory in all cases; and (2) prescriptive game theory gives bad advice in some cases, is reducible to rational choice theory in other cases, while it makes no sense in yet other cases.

Key Words: epistemic characterization • game theory • Nash equilibrium • rational choice theory • reduction

This version was published on June 1, 2008

Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 38, No. 2, 247-266 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0048393108315557
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