Friday, September 8
Steve Awodey, Carnegie Mellon University
3:30-4:50pm EST
Baker Hall A36 (Adamson Wing)

Talk Title: Homotopy Type Theory
Abstract: A new branch of logic called Homotopy Type Theory was founded in the Philosophy Department at CMU and has flourished there in the intervening 15 years. This talk will survey the historical, philosophical, and logical background leading up to the invention of HoTT, and trace some of the challenges and advances that have marked its subsequent development. This is a non-technical talk, intended for a general audience.

Friday, December 8
Amanda Friedenberg, University of Michigan
3:30-4:50pm EST
Baker Hall A36 (Adamson Wing)

Talk Title: “Two Approaches to Iterated Reasoning” with Brandenburger and Kneeland
Abstract: Level-k analysis and epistemic game theory are two iterative approaches in games. This paper explores the relationship between these two. An important difference between them is that level-k analysis begins with an exogenous anchor on the players’ beliefs, while epistemic analysis begins with arbitrary epistemic types (hierarchies of beliefs). To close the gap, we develop the concept of a level-k epistemic type structure, that incorporates the exogenous anchor. We also define a complete level-k type structure where the exogenous anchor is the only restriction on hierarchies of beliefs. One might conjecture that, in a complete structure, the strategies that can be played under rationality and (m − 1)th-order belief of rationality are precisely those strategies played by a level-k player, for any k ≥ m. In fact, we prove that the strategies that can be played are the m-rationalizable strategies (i.e., the strategies that survive m rounds of elimination of strongly dominated strategies). This surprising result says that level-k analysis and epistemic game theory are two genuinely different approaches, with different implications for inferring the players’ reasoning about rationality from their observed behavior.

Please contact Tom Werner if you have any questions or concerns.

Friday, March 15
Saira Khan, University of Pittsburgh
3:30-4:50pm EST
Baker Hall A36 (Adamson Wing)

Talk Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA

Friday, March 29
James Woodward, University of Pittsburgh
3:30-4:50pm EST
Baker Hall A36 (Adamson Wing)

Talk Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA

Friday, April 19
Benjamin McKean, Ohio State University
3:30-4:50pm EST
Baker Hall A36 (Adamson Wing)
Sponsored by the Center for Ethics & Policy

Talk Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA

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