Johan van Benthem

ILLC, University of Amsterdam,

Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands, E-mail: johan.vanbenthem@uva.nl

Sujata Ghosh and Rineke Verbrugge
Institute of Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen, PO Box 407, 9700 AK Groningen, The Netherlands,

E-mail: sujata@ai.rug.nl, rineke@ai.rug.nl

With the support of NWO a three year project titled Modeling strategies in multi-agent systems: From implicit to implementable was taken up at the University of Groningen between March 1,

2009 and February 29, 2012. In this project, the main focus was on modeling strategic reasoning in multi-agent systems from logical, computational and cognitive aspects. Towards the end of the project, we conceived the idea of organizing a workshop on this topic at the Lorentz Center. Our aim was to bring together creative researchers to explore and provide a comparative overview of the different frameworks that describe strategic reasoning in interactions from the viewpoints of computer science, game theory, cognitive science, linguistics and philosophy.

We were also planning an edited book volume Modeling strategic reasoning with contributions from the experts in this field, with the same interdisciplinary aim. We looked forward to the workshop for providing us with a forum where the book contributors interact with young upcoming researchers and other experts so as to aid in the development for the chapters of the book as well as foster new lines of research. Supported by the Lorentz Centre, NIAS, and NWO, the workshop Modeling Strategic Reasoning took place at the Lorentz Centre on February 20 -

24, 2012.

As strategies play out in so many different areas of life, the study of strategies has become an integral part of many areas of science: game theory itself, which is usually viewed as part of eco- nomics; ethics and social philosophy; the study of multi-agent systems in computer science; the foundations of set theory in mathematics; the study of logic games; evolutionary game theory in biology; strategic reasoning in cognitive science; and the study of meaning in linguistics.

There are already many signs of interdisciplinary cooperation between these fields. However, to take the next step, a clear need was felt for understanding the basic similarities between the perspectives on strategies, and to develop a shared perspective on strategic reasoning among

the different communities. That was main focus of this workshop.

The days were structured by having three longer plenary lectures per day, complemented by two or three shorter lectures. The lectures for each day were scheduled to answer specific questions regarding the broader topic of ‘strategic reasoning’ from different directions. In order to foster interdisciplinary discussion, each keynote lecturer was assigned a discussant, always a researcher from a different area.

Typical topics for the daily lectures at the workshop were:

• Monday: Game-theoretic and cognitive viewpoint on strategies;

• Tuesday: Computational studies on strategies;

• Wednesday: Logical frameworks of strategies;

• Thursday: Linguistic studies and social choices;

• Friday: More on game-theoretic and social choice studies.

In addition to lectures and discussions, a part of each workshop day was devoted to commenting on draft chapters for the book. The draft chapters had been circulated among the participants in advance. For most of the envisioned chapters, one or more authors were present at the workshop, and usually they led the discussion sessions about their own chapter.

We are pleased to report that the workshop has been a great success. More than 40 participants from the Netherlands and abroad took part, of which a sizable number were junior researchers, for example Ph.D. students and junior Postdocs from the Netherlands, the U.K., Switzerland, India, Italy, Spain, and the U.S.A.

The relaxed atmosphere and the unique facilities at the Lorentz Centre fostered lively discus- sions, which often went on into the late evening. The discussions on preliminary versions of book chapters proved to be very useful for the authors. In addition, because authors attended discussions of other chapters as well, there were several cases of cross-fertilization. A final session with the authors on Friday led to many concrete ideas for improvements of chapters. Based on the discussions at the workshop, the authors were able to make extensive revisions on their chapters. We have received extremely positive feedback from many of the participants.

Further details of the workshop can be found at: http://www.lorentzcenter.nl/lc/web/

2012/484/info.php3?wsid=484&venue=Oort.

More information about the book can be found at: http://www.isichennai.res.in/~sujata/

book.html.