Utopia is Intelligible and Game-Playing is What Makes Utopia Intelligible

Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 43 (2):251-265 (2016)
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Abstract

Via the existential questioning outlook supplied by the Grasshopper’s three visions as relevant to the fate of humankind – oblivion, delusion, and really magnificent games – this article seeks to alleviate some of the ambiguity surrounding Bernard Suits’ provocative claim that Utopian existence is fundamentally concerned with game-playing. Specifically, after proposing an interpretation of Suits’ parable designed to enrich the logical intelligibility of his Utopian thesis, I advance the suggestion that the Grasshopper’s picture of people playing really magnificent games is reasonably interpreted as a clue that the philosopher’s quest to discern games worthy of a Utopian might very well be that which saves humanity from the desolate oblivion-delusion paradox erected as a consequence of the initial two visions.

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Citations of this work

Bernard Suits on capacities: games, perfectionism, and Utopia.Christopher C. Yorke - 2018 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 45 (2):177-188.
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The Paradoxes of Utopian Game-Playing.Deborah P. Vossen - 2017 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 44 (3):315-328.
Playing with Art in Suits’ Utopia.Nathan Wildman & Alfred Archer - 2019 - Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 13 (3-4):456-470.

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References found in this work

The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia.Bernard Suits & Thomas Hurka - 1978 - Peterborough, CA: Broadview Press.
The Paper World of Bernard Suits.Allan Bäck - 2008 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 35 (2):156-174.
A Grasshopperian Analysis of the Strategic Foul.Deborah P. Vossen - 2014 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 41 (3):325-346.
Gaming Up Life: Considerations for Game Expansions.Scott Kretchmar - 2008 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 35 (2):142-155.

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