This book lays out foundations for a "science of morals." Binmore uses its precision as a systematic tool for investigating ethical matters. He reinterprets classical social contract ideas within a game-theory framework and, by treating people as rational individuals who can empathize and make decisions, generates new insights into the fundamental questions of social philosophy.

"Ken Binmore has written a truly exciting book that derives moral principles of fairness, equity, and other behavior from evolutionary theory. In his theory, societies that hit on more efficient and 'fairer' equilibrium are more likely to survive through a combination of genetic and cultural selection. He is in my judgment appropriately highly critical of the rather arbitrary solutions to morality offered by Kant and some other philosophers. The book is innovative but controversial, and is truly a fresh and original approach written mainly in non-technical language. It should be widely read and discussed. I predict it will have a significant influence on discussions of moral principles in the future."--Gary S. Becker, University of Chicago and Nobel laureate in Economics "Ken Binmore has written a lively, readable account of his social contract theory--shorn of technicalities and accessible to nonspecialists. Readers will be treated to fun and games in social philosophy for the 21st century." --Brian Skyrms, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine

Selling point: Summarizes several decades of research in game theory and social choice in an elegant and accessible way. Selling point: Restates and extends the central ideas in author's earlier, longer treatise. Selling point: Scientific book of broad appeal that will interest economists, political scientists and philosophers.

Ken Binmore is a mathematician-turned-economist who has devoted his life to the theory of games and its applications in economics, evolutionary biology, psychology, and moral philosophy. He is best known for his part in designing the telecom auction that raised $35 billion for the British taxpayer, but his major research contributions are to the theory of bargaining and its testing in the laboratory. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of 12 books and some 90 research papers. He is Emeritus Professor of Economics at University College London.

Selling point: Summarizes several decades of research in game theory and social choice in an elegant and accessible way. Selling point: Restates and extends the central ideas in author's earlier, longer treatise. Selling point: Scientific book of broad appeal that will interest economists, political scientists and philosophers.