Game Theory and Cooperation

Abstract

Abstract Philosophers, economists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, mathematicians and behavioral ecologists have all pondered over the origin and stability of cooperative behavior (Axelrod 1984). Despite this, as well as a huge human literature base and a growing empirical foundation on cooperation in nonhu-mans, it is actually quite difficult to come up with an accepted definition of cooperation. The opening quote of this chapter is meant to illustrate how the term cooperation can be twisted in ways that seem grossly counterintuitive. In fact, even within the field of animal behavior and behavioral ecology, attempts to describe terms like cooperation and altruism sometimes produce almost oxymoronic phrases such as “self-interested refusal to be spiteful” (Grafen 1984), “quasi-altruistic selfishness” (West-Eberhard 1975), and ‘joint stock individualism” (Kropotkin 1908; see Wil son&Dugatkin 1992 for more on these terms and the semantic confusion surrounding them).