Category Archives: Philosophy

Game theory: the way forward? (part 3 of 3)

Posted on February 29, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

In our previous two posts, we identified a blind spot in the work of John Rawls and Bob Nozick: the problem of betrayal–what game theorists call “defection.” In brief, Rawls’s original agreement might embody timeless principles of justice, and Nozick’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooperation, Game Theory, Law, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Rawls vs. Nozick (part 2 of 3)

Posted on February 28, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

In our previous post, we identified a weakness in Rawls’s theory of justice: the possibility of betrayal once the veil of ignorance is lifted. Now, let’s turn to Robert Nozick’s classic tome Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), a book Nozick … Continue reading →

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A critique of Rawls and Nozick and a new way forward (part 1 of 3)

Posted on February 27, 2016 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

For the next three posts, we are going to offer a critique of John Rawls’ theory of justice (part 1), followed by a critique of Robert Nozick’s theory of the pre-political state (part 2), and then offer our own alternative … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooperation, Game Theory, Law, Philosophy | 1 Comment

“Everything not saved will be lost”

Posted on December 18, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Is this a tautology? Hat tip: IamtheWG (via imgur).

Posted in Logical Fallacies, Philosophy | Leave a comment

True or False?

Posted on November 25, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

"Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don't know." ~Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) pic.twitter.com/la7cjUQjsJ — Cliff Pickover (@pickover) November 24, 2015

Posted in Philosophy, Science, Truth | Leave a comment

Bat flips and moral philosophy?

Posted on October 16, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Revised on Oct. 19. When Toronto slugger Jose Bautista crushed a monster “homerun” off the hapless Texas Rangers’ reliever Sam Dyson, Mr Bautista arrogantly chucked his bat to the side before rounding the bases. (The T-shirt pictured below breaks down … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Sports | Leave a comment

Epstein’s Critique of Hayek (Part 2)

Posted on October 10, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

In our previous post, we identified (via the loquacious Professor Richard Epstein) a potential contradiction in Hayek’s influential theory of “spontaneous order.” Briefly, decentralized markets are a good example of a spontaneous order, but markets require a set of rules … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Law, Philosophy | 4 Comments

Epstein’s Critique of Hayek (Part 1)

Posted on October 10, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

We recently attended Richard Epstein’s lecture at George Mason University on “The Continuing Relevance of Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty.” (Disclosure: we are big fans of Epstein’s book “Simple Rules for a Complex World.”) In his lecture, Epstein delivered several devastating blows against … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Law, Philosophy | 7 Comments

“On Constitutional Disobedience”

Posted on February 8, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

That is the title of this thought-provoking book by Louis Michael Seidman, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University. In summary, Professor Seidman’s thesis is that the Constitution of 1787 is not binding on us. While a strong case can … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooperation, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Questions Rarely Asked | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Judge Hercules or Judge Bayes?

Posted on January 9, 2015 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Here is the abstract of one of our thought experiments, which we have been working on over the holidays: This paper explores two possible connections between hard cases in law and Newcomb’s Paradox in philosophy. One is that Newcomb’s Problem is … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Philosophy, Probability | Tagged , , | 1 Comment