There are undoubtedly special cases in which one can suppose that the other player is like one’s self in basic values and can consequently estimate the other’s values by the simple application of symmetry. But in too many exciting cases one plays an opponent who is a wholly different kind of person. The father of a kidnapped boy will not be very successful in guessing what his own bottom price would be if he had been the kidnapper instead; it may not be easy for a British or French officer introspectively to guess how terrible a penalty would have to be to deter him if he were a Mau Mau or an Algerian terrorist.

XREF: Connects to negotiation and game theory literature on empathy gaps and perspective-taking, and to the broader strategic literature on asymmetric opponents.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 281