The Grasshopper - Third Edition: Games, Life and UtopiaIn 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
Preface | 1 |
Acknowledgments | 3 |
The Players | 4 |
Death of the Grasshopper | 5 |
Disciples | 13 |
Construction of a definition | 21 |
Triflers cheats and spoilsports | 45 |
Taking the long way home | 53 |
The remarkable career of Porphyryo Sneak | 105 |
The case history of Bartholomew Drag | 123 |
Open Games | 137 |
Amateurs professionals and Games People Play | 151 |
Resurrection | 167 |
Resolution | 179 |
The fool on the hill | 197 |
Wittgenstein in the meadow | 211 |
Ivan and Abdul | 61 |
Games and paradox | 75 |
Mountain climbing | 87 |
Reverse English | 93 |
Words on play | 217 |
Permissions Acknowledgments | 235 |
From the Publisher | 237 |