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Full Description
In the mid twentieth century the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously asserted that games are indefinable; there are no common threads that link them all. "Nonsense," said the sensible Bernard Suits: "playing a game is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles." The short book Suits wrote demonstrating precisely that is as playful as it is insightful, as stimulating as it is delightful. Through the jocular voice of Aesop's Grasshopper, a "shiftless but thoughtful practitioner of applied entomology," Suits not only argues that games can be meaningfully defined; he also suggests that playing games is a central part of the ideal of human existence, and so games belong at the heart of any vision of Utopia.
This new edition of The Grasshopper includes illustrations from Frank Newfeld created for the book's original publication, as well as an introduction by Thomas Hurka and a new appendix on the meaning of 'play.'
Contents
Introduction by Thomas Hurka
Preface
Acknowledgments
The Players
One: Death of the Grasshopper
Two: Disciples
Three: Construction of a Definition
Four: Triflers, Cheats, and Spoilsports
Five: Taking the Long Way Home
Six: Ivan and Abdul
Seven: Games and Paradox
Eight: Mountain Climbing
Nine: Reverse English
Ten: The Remarkable Career of Porphyryo Sneak
Eleven: The Case History of Bartholomew Drag
Twelve: Open Games
Thirteen: Amateurs, Professionals, and Games People Play
Fourteen: Resurrection
Fifteen: Resolution
Appendix 1: The Fool on the Hill
Appendix 2: Wittgenstein in the Meadow
Appendix 3: Words on Play
