scholarly journals Paradigm Shift in Game Theory: Sociological Re-Conceptualization of Human Agency, Social Structure, and Agents’ Cognitive-Normative Frameworks and Action Determination Modalities

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Burns ◽  
Ewa Roszkowska ◽  
Nora Machado Des Johansson ◽  
Ugo Corte
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Human Agency

Revolutionary Traits in Wittgenstein and St. Paul

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-359
Author(s):  
Joseph Rono ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Apostle Paul ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
River Bed ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
Religious Establishment

Philosophy experienced a turning point at the time of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Likewise, religion (Judaism) encountered transformation during the time of the apostle Paul. Wittgenstein’s metaphor of the ‘River-bed’ that was later subsumed in the language-game theory is a concept that challenged the then status quo of philosophy known as rationalistic foundationalism. This philosophical predisposi­tion is analogous to the religious situation when Paul began his Christian ministry. Paul’s passionate emphasis on ‘justification by faith’ rather than legalistic or ritualistic observance of the law, was a shockwave to the Judaist religious establishment. Wittgenstein and Paul could as well be regarded as ‘radicals’ or rebels in their respective disciplines. Wittgenstein introduced a paradigm shift into philosophy while Paul did it in the Christian religion. Their unconventional outlooks were, however, met with a lot of resistance especially from the diehard philosophers and/or religionists of the day. This paper, therefore, is a comparative work on Wittgenstein (Philosophy) and Paul (Religion) in order to demonstrate sustained revolutionary tendencies toward human innovations and the need to strive for excellence.

Der Niedergang des Strukturfunktionalismus und der Aufstieg paradigmatischer. Alternativen in der Ethnologie

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürg Helbling
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Evolutionary Economics ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Structural Functionalism

AbstractThe paper explores the main paradigmatic failures of structural functionalism in anthropology. Structural functionalism explains institutions and social behavior by their contribution to the reproduction of social structure. Starting from Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski, who represent two main variants of functionalism in anthropology, its main paradigmatic problems are discussed: its inability to analyze social conflict and change, its reducing of society to norms and values as well as its mode of explaining social facts. These failures are illustrated by two functional theories of tribal wars, by Evans-Pritchard and by Rappaport. Various theoretical alternatives emerge from the decline of functionalism in anthropology. Conflict theory as well as game theory, new institutionalism, theories of collective action and evolutionary economics represent true alternatives. This again is illustrated by a theory of tribal war, explaining cooperation both within local groups and between allies against the background of the warlike social environment in which local groups are interacting.

scholarly journals Di-vision: The making of the “Anthropos” and the origins of the Anthropocene

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-179
Author(s):  
Jordi Jaria-Manzano ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
External World ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
Global Crisis ◽  
Limited Ability ◽  
Ecological Complex ◽  
Business As Usual

The current geological transition implies the necessity of a paradigm shift in dominant social practices to cope with an emerging unstable global socio-ecological complex, which is being shaped by comprehensive, irreversible and uncertain human agency. Along with sustainability, issues of justice are crucial in this context including climate justice, which addresses the most notorious phenomenon of the transition to the Anthropocene, i.e. climate change. Such a paradigm shift implies the need to go beyond established practices in research and exploring new narratives. This paper develops a possible narrative of the civilizational patterns that led to the human transformation of the planet, and shows the limits of business-as-usual responses to confronting the global crisis brought about by the geological transition, and consequently their limited ability to achieve sustainability and justice in the Anthropocene. The narrative deployed here highlights the centrality of a particular form of vision in Modernity and its contribution to the establishment of hierarchies through the di-vision between the in-di-vidual and the external world, i.e. nature, which is untenable in the Anthropocene.

James Buchanan on the nature of choice: ontology, artifactual man and the constitutional moment in political economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1159-1179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Lewis ◽  
Malte Dold
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Neoclassical Economics ◽  
James Buchanan ◽  
Human Choice ◽  
Human Agent

Abstract Historians of economic thought are paying greater attention to issues of social ontology (i.e. to the assumptions that economists make about the nature of social reality). We contribute to this burgeoning literature by exploring the hitherto neglected way in which James Buchanan invoked ontological considerations, concerning in particular the nature of human choice, both in criticising neoclassical economics and also in setting out his own contributions to constitutional political economy. We focus on Buchanan’s account of man as an artifactual being who has the capacity to choose the kind of person he wishes to become, in particular by selecting the kind of preferences he wishes to have and the kinds of rules under which he wishes to live. We discuss how Buchanan’s thinking on this issue was shaped by Frank Knight and G. L. S. Shackle and explain why Buchanan explicitly described his argument as ontological in nature. Finally, we contend that Buchanan’s approach would have benefited from further ontological elaboration, in two ways: first, because his arguments would have been stronger had he said more about the attributes of the human agent that help to secure their engagement in thinking creatively about themselves and the rules of society (‘the constitutional moment’), and second because his account would benefit from a deeper discussion of the interplay between human agency and social structure, especially with regard to the question of which structures might constrain or facilitate creative choices of the kind by which he set such great store.

The Usefulness of Indepth Life History Interviews for Exploring the Role of Social Structure and Human Agency in Youth Transitions

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 102-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gill Hubbard
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Youth Transitions

This paper discusses the usefulness of indepth life history interviews in illustrating the role of social structure and human agency in youth transitions. Drawing on sociological theory and youth transition research, the paper highlights how the role of structure and agency has been perceived by youth researchers. Whilst this literature acknowledges the interplay between structure and agency in transitional processes, the appropriateness of particular research methods for explicating structure and agency needs to be further elucidated. Using data from a study of youth transitions in rural areas of Scotland, a range of transitional experiences from two indepth life history interviews is presented here. This exploratory exercise suggests that life history interviews enable researchers to explore how far social structures provide opportunities and constraints for human agents at the same time as showing how individuals, with their own beliefs and desires, take actions despite the social structures that underlie the immediacy of their experiences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document