Decisions, Groups and Networks (8-9 September 2014)
Idea and Motivation
In recent years, formal and empirical approaches have become central to study decision-making. Social network analysis, agent-based modeling and simulation techniques are meanwhile widely used not only in sociology, political science, social psychology, and economics. Also philosophers increasingly point to the potentials of these approaches for addressing questions in political and moral philosophy, formal epistemology, and philosophy of science more generally. Whereas the importance of social dynamics and network structures for investigating into decision-making has been largely acknowledged, the application and results of these novel approaches raise a number of philosophical issues that have not yet been discussed in the literature. This workshop will bring together social scientists, philosophers, decision theorists, and psychologists to explore and discuss the potentials and limitations of these approaches for scientific practice and philosophy alike.
Program
8 September
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 - 09:30 | Registration. |
| 09:30 - 09:45 | Welcome. |
| 09:45 - 10:30 | Network Topology, Truth and Value (Ulrike Hahn, Birbeck/MCMP) |
| 10:30 - 11:15 | Deliberating in a Prediction Market (Aidan Lyon, University of Maryland/MCMP) |
| 11:15 - 11:45 | Coffee |
| 11:45 - 12:30 | The Consistency Principle in Interpersonal Communication: Consequences of Preference Confirmation and Disconfirmation in Collective Decision-Making (Andreas Mojzisch, University of Hildesheim) |
| 12:30 - 13:15 | Anchoring in Deliberations (Stephan Hartmann, MCMP) |
| 13:15 - 14:15 | Lunch |
| 14:15 - 15:00 | Aggregation of Preferences in Unanimous Group Decision-Making (Martin Kocher, LMU) |
| 15:00 - 15:45 | Gender Differences in Networking at Work (Friederike Mengel, University of Essex/Maastricht University) |
| 15:45 - 16:00 | Coffee |
| 16:00 - 16:45 | Structural Power, Endowments, and Social Preferences in Networks: An Experiment in Coalition Formation (Bernhard Kittel, University of Vienna) |
| 16:45 - 17:30 | A Logic Approach to Lehrer, Wagner, and De Groot's Model of Opinion Dynamics in Social Networks (Jens Ulrik Hansen, Lund University) |
| 18:30 | Workshop Dinner Osterwaldgarten |
9 September
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:45 - 10:30 | Multiple Committee Memberships in Parliaments: Causes, Network Topology, and Consequences (Paul Thurner, LMU) |
| 10:30 - 11:15 | Affinity Communities Among State Actors in the United Nations (Skyler Cranmer, UNC) |
| 11:15 - 11:45 | Coffee |
| 11:45 - 12:30 | "Let's Formalize Behavior": The Diffusion of Rational Choice Theory in American Social Sciences, 1944-1970. (Malte Doehne, Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen/Catherine Herfeld, MCMP) |
| 12:30 - 13:15 | Network Defense: Pruning and Closing the Network to Prevent Leakage of Strategic Knowledge to Rivals (Anja Tuschke, LMU) |
| 13:15 - 14:15 | Lunch |
Acknowledgement
The conference is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship and by the Center for Advanced Studies (CAS).