Fights, Games, and Debates

This book proposes a scientifically grounded method by which we can understand—and perhaps control—human conflict in all its forms.

From the threat of nuclear catastrophe to the daily tensions of social life, conflict is in the very texture of our existence. Dr. Rapoport discerns three levels: he analyzes fights, in which the adversaries try to destroy or overcome one another; games, in which antagonists strive to outwit each other in a framework of accepted rules; and debates, in which the opponents seek to change each other's views.

Once we understand conflicts, we may prevent a fight by turning it into a game (even such a dangerous game as a Cold War), or turn the game into a debate, the most civilized and only productive form of conflict.

Current events, science, literature furnish the examples of fights and games which Dr. Rapoport here converts into mathematical models for study and comparison. The debate is presented in a model which opposes the views of democracy and communism. If such debates fail, the author points out, it is most often because the opponents cannot, or will not, listen to each other. But he suggests a method by which an opponent may be psychologically compelled to listen.

Alert to the limitations as well as the merits of science, Professor Rapoport broadens our understanding of new disciplines such as "Social Physics" and "Game Theory." His is the first study of conflict as a mode of human behavior on all levels.