Book Description
The central question posed in this book is: If there existed a superior being who possessed the supernatural qualities of omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehensibility, how would he/she act differently from us? The mathematical theory of games is used to define each of these qualities, and different assumptions about the rules of play in several theological games that might be played between ordinary human beings and superior beings like God are posited. Implications of these definitions and assumptions are developed and used to explore such questions as: are God’s superior powers compatible with human free will? Can they be reconciled with the problem of evil in the world? In what situation is God’s existence ‘decidable’ in gamelike relationships He migh have with us? By endowing omniscience/omnipotence/immortality/incomprehensibility with unambiguous meanings, the author shows how game theory can help breathe life into questions that have been dismissed too quickly simply because they are metaphysical–outside the world of experience. Thereby he clarifies the structure of our thought about an ultimate reality, whether or not it is viewed as religious.
Reviews
From the reviews: "[Brams’s] arguments, some of them
quite complicated, are presented clearly and enough background
information is given to enable the non-expert in game theory to follow
what is going on.” —H.N.V. Temperley, Nature (March, 1984) “Superior Beings
is an extraordinary book… He [Brams] uses strikingly simple models
and generally transparent logic to make some surprising inferences about
superiority. His inquiry is carried out with great inventiveness and
care, and his book is highly recommended to those interested in
religion, philosophy, and the contribution of logical analysis.” - D.
Marc Kilgur, American Scientist (1984) “Brams has performed a
service in deominstrating that rational analysis need not stop where
issues involving faith and emotion begin.” - Peter Bennett, New
Scientist (1 March, 1984) “Does game-theoretic theory exist?
This book is a fresh partial answer, modestly phrased and interestingly
written. Readers will enjoy it and learn from it whether or not the
believe in either God or von Neumann.” - Dr. Paul R. Halmos, Indiana
University “Professor Brams has boldly invaded an unexplored
region where modern game theory and decision theory find applications to
monotheistic theology. His carefully constructed arguments would have
perplexed Maimonides, Aquinas, Luther, or the great Muslim thinkers…
But it is hard to see how they can be ignored by contemporary
theologians.” - Martin Gardener “[Brams’s] work can be highly
recommended as collateral reading for introdcutory courses on
mathematical modeling in the social, managerial and decision science-now
perhaps even in theology.” - William F. Lucas, American Mathematical
Monthly (January, 1987) From the reviews of the second edition: “Brams
analyses human interactions with the divine in order to effectively
cast light on some of the toughest questions in philosophy and theology.
… Superior Beings represents a first step in applying game-theoretic
analysis to religious issues and reading it brings up many questions and
directions for future work. … Overall, Superior Beings is an excellent
book that tackles a challenging series of topics with grace and depth.”
(Angela Vierling-Claassen, MathDL, February, 2008)
From the Back Cover
The central question posed in this book is: If there existed a
superior being who possessed the supernatural qualities of omniscience,
omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehensibility, how would he/she act
differently from us? The mathematical theory of games is used to
define each of these qualities, and different assumptions about the
rules of play in several theological games that might be played between
ordinary human beings and superior beings like God are posited.
Implications of these definitions and assumptions are developed and used
to explore such questions as: are God’s superior powers compatible with
human free will? Can they be reconciled with the problem of evil in
the world? In what situation is God’s existence “decidable” in gamelike
relationships He migh have with us? By endowing
omniscience/omnipotence/immortality/incomprehensibility with unambiguous
meanings, the author shows how game theory can help breathe life into
questions that have been dismissed too quickly simply because they are
metaphysical–outside the world of experience. Thereby he clarifies the
structure of our thought about an ultimate reality, whether or not it
is viewed as religious. Reviews from the first edition: “[Brams’s]
arguments, some of them quite complicated, are presented clearly and
enough background information is given to enable the non-expert in game
theory to follow what is going on.” - H.N.V. Temperley, Nature (March,
1984) “Superior Beings is an extraordinary
book… He [Brams] uses strikingly simple models and generally
transparent logic to make some surprising inferences about superiority.
His inquiry is carried out with great inventiveness and care, and his
book is highly recommended to those interested in religion, philosophy,
and the contribution of logical analysis.” - D. Marc Kilgur, American
Scientist (1984) “Brams has performed a service in deominstrating
that rational analysis need not stop where issues involving faith and
emotion begin.” - Peter Bennett, New Scientist (1 March, 1984) “Does
game-theoretic theory exist? This book is a fresh partial answer,
modestly phrased and interestingly written. Readers will enjoy it and
learn from it whether or not the believe in either God or von Neumann.” -
Dr. Paul R. Halmos, Indiana University “Professor Brams has
boldly invaded an unexplored region where modern game theory and
decision theory find applications to monotheistic theology. His
carefully constructed arguments would have perplexed Maimonides,
Aquinas, Luther, or the great Muslim thinkers… But it is hard to see
how they can be ignored by contemporary theologians.” - Martin Gardener “[Brams’s]
work can be highly recommended as collateral reading for introdcutory
courses on mathematical modeling in the social, managerial and decision
science-now perhaps even in theology.” - William F. Lucas, American
Mathematical Monthly (January, 1987)
