“The military forces of the revolutionary adversary are diffuse. One is never sure whether one has destroyed them unless one is ready to destroy a large portion of the population, and this usually conflicts with the political aim of the war and hence also violates a fundamental Clausewitzian principle.” WarPoliticalForcePrinciplesMilitaryReadyConflictAimFundamentalsPopulationDestroyedRevolutionaryPortionsAdversariesMilitary Force Author:Anatol Rapoport
“It is the shortcomings of game theory (as originally formulated) which force the consideration of the role of ethics, of the dynamics of social structure, and of social structure and of individual psychology in situations of conflict.” GamesIndividualForceSocialSituationRolesPsychologyTheoryConflictEthicsStructureConsiderationShortcomingsDynamicsSocial Structure Book:Fights, Games, and Debates Source: Fights, Games, and Debates
“Although the drama of games of strategy is strongly linked with the psychological aspects of the conflict, game theory is not concerned with these aspects. Game theory, so to speak, plays the board. It is concerned only with the logical aspects of strategy.” PlayGamesSpeakTheoryDramaConflictConcernedAspectStrategyPsychologicalBoardsLogicalLinked Author:Anatol Rapoport
“Whether game theory leads to clear-cut solutions, to vague solutions, or to impasses, it does achieve one thing. In bringing techniques of logical and mathematical analysis gives men an opportunity to bring conflicts up from the level of fights, where the intellect is beclouded by passions, to the level of games, where the intellect has a chance to operate.” MenGivingDoeFightingPassionOpportunityGamesChanceLevelsClearCuttingOne ThingAchieveTheoryConflictSolutionsIntellectTechniqueMathematicalAnalysisLogicalVagueImpasseMathematical Analysis Author:Anatol Rapoport
“(Game theory is) essentially a structural theory. It uncovers the logical structure of a great variety of conflict situations and describes this structure in mathematical terms. Sometimes the logical structure of a conflict situation admits rational decisions; sometimes it does not.” DoeSometimesGamesTermDecisionSituationTheoryConflictStructureRationalVarietyMathematicalLogicalRational Decisions Author:Anatol Rapoport
“The purpose of formulating [a] conflict as a game is not that of resolving the conflict by 'solving the game.' It is that of displaying the structure of the conflict and thereby exposing features of it that may be concealed by rhetoric. In particular, appreciation of the peculiar structure of some of the so-called mixed - motive conflicts represented nonzero-sum games may change the conflicting parties' perception of their situation.” MayPurposeGamesPartySituationParticularConflictPerceptionStructureAppreciationFeaturesMotivePeculiarRhetoricConcealedExposing Author:Anatol Rapoport
