Natural Justice 1st Edition

by Ken Binmore (Author)

6 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0195178111

ISBN-10: 0195178114

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This book lays out foundations for a "science of morals." Binmore uses game theory as a systematic tool for investigating ethical matters. He reinterprets classical social contract ideas within a game-theory framework and generates new insights into the fundamental questions of social philosophy. In contrast to the previous writing in moral philosophy that relied on vague notion such as " societal well-being" and "moral duty," Binmore begins with individuals; rational decision-makers with the ability to empathize with one another. Any social arrangement that prescribes them to act against their interests will become unstable and eventually will be replaced by another, until one is found that includes worthwhile actions for all individuals involved.

Natural Justice

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Product Details

Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (March 17, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195178114
ISBN-13: 978-0195178111
Product Dimensions: 10 x 1.1 x 7.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,328,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #554 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > Economics > Economic Theory
- #993 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > International Business
- #1790 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy > Ethics

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3.8 out of 5 stars

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Top Customer Reviews

Groundbreaking

ByJJ vd Weeleon June 16, 2007

Format: Hardcover

Even though it is not always a s clear as it should have been, this is a brilliant book. To moral philosophy, Binmore applies Marx' famous dictum reversed: We have tried to change the world, now it is time to understand it. According to Binmore, prevailing theories have taught us little about how justice actually works. Instead of relying on evidence on the nature of ourselves and our societies, they have invoked various utopian "Gods", such as rationality or the impartial spectator, when talking about morality. In Binmore's trademark fluent and militant style he scorns especially Kantian philosophy, that is referred to as the `dark age of moral reasoning', and has led to `absurdly implausible rules'. (In another passage we are told that the self-proclaimed pundits of moral philosophy `have no more access to some noumenal world of moral absolutes than the boy who delivers our newspapers'.)
Instead, says Binmore, we need to study the actual rules that people use and see where they come from: How did they evolve and why do they survive?
Moral relativism indeed, but of a very persuasive sort. According to Binmore, fairness rules have evolved to help societies select between equilibria in various coordination games that arise in life. Societies that selected the more efficient equilibria have survived, resulting in our current and constantly evolving social contract. Or in the more eloquent words of Binmore: "Fairness is the social tool washed up on the human beach by the tide of evolution for solving [...] coordination problems [...]".

Although this summarizes the basic philosophy underlying the whole book, the full theory exposited in it is great deal more complicated. It offers a Rawlsian argument in which people bargain in the original position about the outcome of a coordination game, a process made possible by the existence of "empathic preferences". In this process, people use certain fairness rules and social indices for interpersonal utility comparison. According to Binmore, the latter indices evolve, to eventually be such that the fairness rules lead to an efficient (Nash) bargaining outcome. The result is a theory of the coevolution of a genetically determined possibility to emphatize with each other and a culturally determined set of social indices.

Even though the book is a non-technical summery of Binmore's "Game theory and the social contract", it is far from an easy read. There is a fair deal of bargaining and game theory to be swallowed and the exposition is not always as clear as one would hope. Also, it will carry many readers into uncharted terrain, since the book brims with concepts from decision theory, game theory, political philosophy, biology, and evolutionary theory.

But in the end, this is what makes the book so immensely rewarding. Here is a first stab at a whole new theory of morality, and it is so full of ideas that it can keep an army of scholars busy for a long time to follow up on all of them. Most of the ideas may be crude, controversial, incomplete and some even wrong, but they are invariably exciting. 10 Years of thinking by one of the finest minds in economics have yielded a treasure pot for a naturalistic approach to morality.

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Games & Morality

ByDr. A. Bowyeron June 6, 2006

Format: Hardcover

This is a deeply important, but flawed, book. The important aspects are
the ideas behind it, and the flaws are in their exposition.

The book describes the application of evolutionary game theory to the
development of human morality. It shows how some moral positions are
stable, and so are likely to have been selected both by Darwin's Law
of Evolution and by cultural selection in successful societies. It
also shows how forces can influence those stable configurations, so,
for example, in a society with an uncorrupt disinterested and powerful
police force, one would expect utilitarianism to prevail, whereas in
an anarchy one would expect egalitarianism to do so.

The book also offers a cogent, finely-argued and completely successful
rebuttal of Kantian deontology, "right for right's sake", and the
categorical imperative. This rebuttal is long overdue.

However, from the literary standpoint, Binmore is no Dawkins. He
writes well enough from sentence to sentence, and his use of anecdote
and example is good. But he does not have a feel for overall
structure, and does not give the impression of having in mind the
possible ways in which the reader might mis-understand what he is
writing.

Binmore's ideas are both correct and very significant. It is a shame
that he has not written about them more clearly. But on balance this book is well worth reading.

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Good idea, confused writing

ByPoplarLeafon December 13, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

The idea is good. However, the writing skill is so so. Oftentimes it is very misleading or confusing the way it is written. I read this book very slowly because I want to figure out what it really wants to say. If it is for the public (no math involved), it should be an easy read. Oh well, I wish it used some math so that would be easier for me in this case. Again, the idea is great, the writing is confused.

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Five Stars

ByAmazon Customeron December 7, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Essential reading

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Ken Binmore Tells The Truth

ByBret Blakesleeon June 8, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is about how to use Game Theory in real life (or how it might be used) by a genuine expert. Ken Binmore is Professor Emeritus of Economics at University College, London. This is the real thing by a mathematician, economist, and game theorist who was awarded the CBE "for making a significant achievement for the United Kingdom" in his field. "Game Theory and the Social Contract, [is] an ambitious attempt to lay the foundations for a genuine science of morals using the theory of games. In Game Theory and the Social Contract Binmore proposes a naturalistic reinterpretation of John Rawls' original position that reconciles his egalitarian theory of justice with John Harsanyi's utilitarian theory. His recent Natural Justice provides a nontechnical synthesis of this work." (an excerpt from Wikipedia). This book is the real thing.

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One Star

ByNo Just Noon January 20, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Didn't like it at all. Won't bother explaining why.

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