Here’s my version of the definition used by Schelling in The Strategy of Conflict: A threat is when I commit myself to an action, conditional on an action of yours, such that if I end up having to take that action I would have reason to regret having committed myself to it.
So if I credibly commit myself to the assertion, ‘If you don’t give me your phone, I’ll throw you off this ship,’ then that’s a threat. I’m hoping that the situation will end with you giving me your phone. If it ends with me throwing you overboard, the penalties I’ll incur will be sufficient to make me regret having made the commitment.
But when these rational pirates say, ‘If we don’t like your proposal, we’ll throw you overboard,’ then that’s not a threat; they’re just elucidating their preferences. Schelling uses ‘warning’ for this sort of statement.
Here’s my version of the definition used by Schelling in The Strategy of Conflict: A threat is when I commit myself to an action, conditional on an action of yours, such that if I end up having to take that action I would have reason to regret having committed myself to it.
So if I credibly commit myself to the assertion, ‘If you don’t give me your phone, I’ll throw you off this ship,’ then that’s a threat. I’m hoping that the situation will end with you giving me your phone. If it ends with me throwing you overboard, the penalties I’ll incur will be sufficient to make me regret having made the commitment.
But when these rational pirates say, ‘If we don’t like your proposal, we’ll throw you overboard,’ then that’s not a threat; they’re just elucidating their preferences. Schelling uses ‘warning’ for this sort of statement.