Lezione sulla Strategic argumentation in the law

Strategic argumentation in the law

Game theory

Formal argumentation and strategic argumentation games involve models such as:

• Disputes (ways for handling and solving conflicts) – Negotiation – 2 parties dialogue in the basic trial, 2 adversaries.
• Plaintiff (proponent)
• Exchange of arguments
• Defendant (opponent)
• Deliberation - Judge decision

Argumentation basics

Argumentation is a game. It is a model of social interaction involving rational behavior and social relation. The plaintiff and defendant are the players of this game and both aim to win the trial. Rationality is the key.

Strategies in the game

Game > Interaction between 2 or more individuals called players, specifying all strategies available to them and any order of execution of the action that each player can perform.

Strategy > Every strategy for a player. A strategy in a game is a comprehensive plan of action that a player can accomplish in a possible situation of the game and that determines a result, positive or negative, for the player and the other players involved.

Strategy profile > Combination of strategies for each player.

• A -> S strategy -> I take 5, you get 6. (in a scale from 0 to 5)
• B -> T strategy -> Uses a scale from 0 to 10
• (S * T) = Possible strategy profile of the A B game.

The nature of players

They are rational and selfish, able to assign a value to each of the results that may be expected from joint decisions of all players. They make decisions that are the best strategies to maximize their individual utility.

Types of games

Simultaneous or sequential > Games are simultaneous if the players make decisions exactly at the same time or, if they don’t, each player decides without knowing the choices of the other player.

Complete or incomplete knowledge of the players > If the parties have complete knowledge of the game, this means they know the rules and structure of the game, number of players, rational nature, their possible strategies and utilities can be obtained for each of the joint decisions.

Number of players > Greater or equal to 2.

Measure of utility > The utility assigned to the results or to the strategies of the agents is measurable with cardinal numbers (integers).

Interpersonal comparison of utility > It’s possible to compare the utility evaluation each player assigns to a certain result in a game.