Esmaeili, Shahin and HajiAliAkbari, Mahdi
(2021)
Robert Nozick on Prisoner's Dilemma.
[Preprint]
Abstract
Robert Nozick, in chapter two of the nature of rationality, proposes two famous problems in
decision theory (i.e., Newcomb's problem and Prisoner Dilemma) and two main strategies toward
these problems i.e. dominant strategy and dominated or cooperative one. He will try to give a
formal principles to calculate the decision values in these situations. In this calculation he goes
beyond the standard principle of maximizing expected utility and would try to put forth less ideal
and more realistic principles that fit the decision situation in the real world. As he mentioned
himself:
" The framework of decision-values, with its incorporated weights that can be altered over
time, is one way that a fetting to the actual world can be accomplished." (Nozick, 1993, p
48).
He does not emphasize just strategies (joint or individual) but he does pay attention to the amount
of the outcomes in each case and its effects on the decision-making process. He discusses three
different modes of connection between action and outcomes which he calls causal, evidential, and
symbolic modes. Finally, he concludes that a joint strategy is rational in some special cases and
under some conditions. He presents his DV principles as a criterion of rationality including three
kinds of outcomes and the Wight assigned to each of them.
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