Prisoner's dilemma
In moral philosophy

The prisoner's dilemma is commonly used as a thinking tool in moral philosophy as an illustration of the potential tension between the benefit of the individual and the benefit of the community.

Both the one-shot and the iterated prisoner's dilemma have applications in moral philosophy. Indeed, many of the moral situations, such as genocide, are not easily repeated more than once. Moreover, in many situations, the previous rounds' outcomes are unknown to the players, since they are not necessarily the same (e.g. interaction with a panhandler on the street).

The philosopher David Gauthier uses the prisoner's dilemma to show how morality and rationality can conflict.

Some game theorists have criticized the use of the prisoner's dilemma as a thinking tool in moral philosophy. Kenneth Binmore argued that the prisoner's dilemma does not accurately describe the game played by humanity, which he argues is closer to a coordination game. Brian Skyrms shares this perspective.

Steven Kuhn suggests that these views may be reconciled by considering that moral behavior can modify the payoff matrix of a game, transforming it from a prisoner's dilemma into other games.
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