ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a systematic logical reconstruction of game theory (gt) whose aim is to determine its basic theory-element through the formulation of its fundamental law. The basic theory-element of “neoclassical economics” is obtained out of some axiomatic formulation of the concept of a dynamic game. The empirical claim of gt is that this task can be successfully pursued for the observed behavior of agents in strategic situations. The chapter discusses its empirical applicability and to show that the conditions usually known as “axioms of revealed preference” are nothing but special cases of a certain constraint. The rational agents playing the game always try to choose the strategies that maximize their expected utility. In the case of gt such factors are profiles of behavioral strategies which must induce equilibria that explain the observed behavior. The main task of normal science within the scientific paradigm consists of determining the utility functions of the agents out of their observed behavior.
