Research Catalog
Superior beings : if they exist, how would we know?: game-theoretic implications of omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehensibility
- Title
- Superior beings : if they exist, how would we know?: game-theoretic implications of omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehensibility / Steven J. Brams.
- Author
- Brams, Steven J.
- Publication
- New York : Springer-Verlag, ©1983.
Items in the Library & Off-site
Filter by
1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | BT130 .B69 1983 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- xviii, 202 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
- Summary
- This book examines theology and the idea of a superior being in the context of game theory. The central question posed in this book is: If there existed a superior being who possessed the supernatural qualities of omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehensibility, how would he/she act differently from us?
- Subject
- Note
- Includes index.
- Bibliography (note)
- Bibliography: p. [187]-191.
- Contents
- I. Introduction -- II. The rationality of belief in a superior being -- The revelation game -- The revelation game paradox -- The knowability games -- Belief in an uncertain world -- III. Omniscience and partial omniscience -- some effects of omniscience -- Newcomb's problem -- Which principle, and is there a conflict? -- Newcomb's problem symmetricized: Prisoners' dilemma -- A solution to prisoner's dilemma -- Cooperation or noncooperation? -- Implications of mutual predictability for SB and P -- IV. The paradox of omniscience and the theory of moves -- The paradox of omniscience -- A resolution of the paradox of omniscience -- Theory of moves -- A second paradox: moves may provide no resolution -- V. Omnipotence: moving and staying power -- Moving power -- Is there a paradox of moving power? -- Theological interpretations of moving power -- Staying power -- An algorithm for determining S-power outcomes -- M-power versus S-power in the commitment game and other situations -- VI. Immorality and incomprehensibility -- Threats and immorality -- Repeated plays -- Threat power in the punishment game: When immorality is decisive in an asymmetrical game -- Deception by the superior being -- The truth game and the problem of evil -- VII. Superior beings: They may be undecidable -- Undecidability -- Arbitrariness and undecidability.
- ISBN
- 0387912231
- 9780387912233
- 0387908773
- 9780387908779
- 3540908773
- 9783540908777
- 3540912231
- 9783540912231
- LCCN
- 83010530
- OCLC
- ocm09557178
- 9557178
- SCSB-76801
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library