Thinker · TH-0076
Bernard Suits
Bernard Suits was a philosopher who taught for most of his career at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Against Wittgenstein's claim that games…
1925 – 2007 · Waterloo (Ontario)
Traditions: Analytic
Bernard Suits was a philosopher who taught for most of his career at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Against Wittgenstein's claim that games share no common essence, he offered a definition of game-playing: the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles. In The Grasshopper, written as a playful dialogue modelled on Aesop's fable, he argued that in a utopia where all instrumental needs were met, game-playing would be what gives life its point.
Key ideas
- Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.
- Games combine a goal, permitted means less efficient than possible ones, rules and a 'lusory attitude'.
- Contrary to Wittgenstein, games can be defined.
- In an ideal world free of necessity, game-playing would be the highest good.
Major works
- "What Is a Game?" (Philosophy of Science, 1967)
- The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia (1978)
In the conversation
- Question Would games really be the only thing left worth doing in utopia?
- Debate A deliberate foul that accepts its penalty is still a move within the game
- Question If a cheat wins the match, has he even played the game? Help me with Suits
In the Coordinates
The questions of philosophy where Bernard Suits takes a place, from The Coordinates of Thought.
- 6.25 Philosophy of Sport and Play Why does it matter whether the ball crossed a line we drew?