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ENVR 400: Environmental Thought Even if you did not take Philosophy of Social Sciences I before, the course instructor can approve your enrollment this year. PHIL 440: Philosophy of Social Sciences II (Fall 2010) Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:35‐3:55 Arts Building 145 Professor Iwao Hirose Office: Leacock 924 Office hours: T 10:00‐12:00 Email: [email protected] Topics: Philosophy of Economics In this course, we will examine philosophical problems in contemporary economic theory. More specifically, we will survey (1) decision theory (Allais paradox, Ellsberg paradox, two‐envelop paradox, framing effect, etc) (2) game theory (absent‐minded driver paradox, paradox of backward induction, prisoner's dilemma, chain‐store paradox, common knowledge of rationality, etc) and (3) social choice theory (Arrow's impossibility theorem, Sen's liberal paradox, etc). By the end of this course, you will learn the role and structure of theoretical and practical rationality. This course would be suitable for students in philosophy, economics, political science, cognitive science, and psychology. No economics or mathematical background is assumed. However, you must know the elementary level of classical logic. This course is based on my lectures for graduate course at Politics Department, Oxford University. The summary of my Oxford lectures is “Why be formal?” in Leopold and Stears (eds.) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches. Oxford University Press. I recommend reading it before week 2. Main Textbook: Martin Peterson. An Introduction to Decision Theory. Cambridge University Press. There will be additional readings on web ct. Recommended Books: Decision theory • Itzhak Gilboa. 2009. Theory of Decision under Uncertainty. Cambridge University Press. • David Kreps. 1988. Notes on the Theory of Choice. Westview Press. [Advanced] Game theory • Ken Binmore. 1992. Fun and Games. D. C. Heath. • Martin Osborne & Ariel Rubinstein. 1994. A Course in Game Theory. MIT Press. [Advanced] Social choice • Allan Feldman & Roberto Serrano. 2006. Welfare Economics and Social Choice. 2d ed. Springer. • Wulf Gaertner. 2006. Primer in Social Choice Theory. Oxford University Press. Assessment • Midterm exam (Oct 7): 30pt • Presentation of term essay draft (incl. Q&A): 10pt • Term essay (max. 2,000 words, due on Dec 4): 50pt • Attendance and participation: 10pt Late essays and extensions Late essays will be downgraded at a rate of 3 points per 24 hours on their final grade for the course (not 3% of grade for the essay), including weekend/holiday days. This means that if you submit 48 hours late, your final grade will be downgraded by at least a 1/3 letter grade (e.g. from B+ to B). Requests for extensions will be considered (but not automatically granted) only when requested at least 24 hours before the paper is due and substantiated at the time of request by a doctor’s note documenting illness. Please request extensions to your section instructor. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: McGill University values academic integrity. All students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information). PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS: In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change. Tentative Schedule WK 0 (Sep 2): Themes and logistic WK 1: Definition and very short history of economic science WK 2: Introduction to expected utility theory (EU) WK 3: Paradoxes in EU WK 4: Paradoxes in EU WK 5: Introduction to game theory [midterm exam on Oct 7] WK 6: Paradoxes in game theory WK 7: Paradoxes in game theory WK 8: Social choice theory WK 9: Social choice theory WK10: Social choice theory WK11: Term essay presentations to the whole class WK12: Term essay presentations to the whole class WK13: Summary and open discussion [final version of term essay due on Dec 4] .
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