Pedroza, R. 2000. Teoría de juegos e individualismo metodológico de Jon Elster Cinta moebio 8: 149-158 www.moebio.uchile.cl/08/pedroza.htm 149 Teoría de Juegos e Individualismo Metodológico de Jon Elster. Un acercamiento para el análisis de la educación René Pedroza Flores. Dr. en Ciencias Sociales (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana). Magíster y Licenciatura en Sociología (UNAM). Profesor Facultad de Ciencias de la Conducta (UAEM). México. Abstract Education as object of inquiry is susceptible to multiple interpretations, which -most of them- run the risk of falling only in the understanding of structural factors or in internalist aspects. Reason why one feels like exploring routes that do not engage in a determinist paradox of the type: society determines education or education determines society. That is the reason for this document to pursue a double purpose: one show the contributions of Jon Elster to the study of the social aspect; and the other, the ludic pretension of attracting Elster for the analysis of education. The methodological individualism and the theory of the games both part from the importance of recognizing the individuals as capable of taking decisions once they have valued the intentionalities that may arise in the own representation of the stage to which the decision corresponds. Let’s say that there is a comprehension of the different actors before they carry out an action, which is valued in terms of the maximization of results in close relation to the interests of the ones involved. The article is divided in two great sections: the first one, a panoramic view of Jon Elster is presented, divided in a brief portrait, the context of his theoretical assumptions, the itinerary of his through his main works and his contribution about the explanation of the social. In the second one, the analysis of education is explored from the vision of the methodological individualism, for that purpose, an initial comment is offered about the meaning of such a intention, to proceed later on with the representation of different examples of maximazing the notions of Elster in the classroom and the academy. Key words: jon elster, higher education, methodological individualism, game theory. 1. Breve Semblanza de Jon Elster Jon Elster (Oslo, 1940) forma parte del September Group de "marxistas analíticos" de Oxford; junto con el filósofo Gerald Cohen; el economista Jhon Roemer; el historiador Robert Brenner; el sociólogo Eric Olin Wright; y el científico social Phillipe van Parijs. El estudió matemáticas, filosofía y filología francesa. Ha tenido influencias teóricas de grandes pensadores: el filósofo noruego Dagfin Follesdal, quien reinterpreta a Husserl de manera analítica y contribuye al análisis filosófico de la intencionalidad de la acción humana; Duncan Luce y Howard Raiffa, Althusser (con quien entra en contacto en el Doctorado acerca del marxismo); Raymond Aron (después de discrepar con Althusser, termina su tesis doctoral con Aron); Serge-Christophe Kolm (filósofo y economista matemático) y Raymond Boudon (sociólogo empírico). Las dos pasiones teóricas de Elster han sido la teoría de la acción humana intencional y el marxismo que recupera la noción de los sujetos sociales. Ambas pasiones nacen bajo las influencias de la inquietud que le despierta, por una parte, la teoría de juegos y, por la otra, el desaliento de un marxismo francés funcional-estructuralista.