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The cover of The Grasshopper Third Edition: Games, Life and Utopia

The Grasshopper Third Edition: Games, Life and Utopia

Bernard Suits

What is a game, and could playing games be the best way a person could spend a life?

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At a glance

Author
Bernard Suits

Why read it

  • You will learn a test for what counts as a game, built on choosing inefficient means to reach a goal
  • You will see why, in a world where machines met every need, playing games could be the best life left
  • You will question whether most people could be content in a utopia where all work has become play

Who it is for

  • A philosophy student who wants argument that is also funny
  • Someone asking what makes work different from play
  • A game designer curious what makes a game a game

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Thomas Hurka
  3. Preface
  4. The Players
  5. one
  6. Death of the Grasshopper
  7. two
  8. Disciples
  9. three
  10. Construction of a definition
  11. four
  12. Triflers, cheats, and spoilsports
  13. five
  14. Taking the long way home
  15. six
  16. Ivan and Abdul
  17. seven
  18. Games and paradox
  19. eight
  20. Mountain climbing
  21. nine
  22. Reverse English
  23. ten
  24. The remarkable career of Porphyryo Sneak
  25. eleven
  26. The case history of Bartholomew Drag
  27. twelve
  28. Open games
  29. thirteen
  30. Amateurs, professionals, and Games People Play
  31. fourteen
  32. Resurrection
  33. fifteen
  34. Resolution
  35. Appendix One: The fool on the hill
  36. 1. Wittgenstein and Plato
  37. 2. The fool on the hill
  38. 3. The doctrine of recollection revisited
  39. 4. Polemically ornamented summary
  40. Appendix Two: Wittgenstein in the meadow
  41. The counter-example: Sun, earth, and moon
  42. Inventing CMO
  43. SEM as CMO
  44. SEM as model construction
  45. Defeating the counter-example
  46. Appendix Three: Words on play¹
  47. Permissions Acknowledgments

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