Reinventing the Wheel: On Games and the Good Life
Open Access
- Author:
- McLaughlin, Douglas W
- Graduate Program:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 13, 2008
- Committee Members:
- Robert Scott Kretchmar, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Mark Dyreson, Committee Member
Geoffrey Clay Godbey, Committee Member
Douglas Ray Hochstetler, Committee Member - Keywords:
- lusory experience
lusory attitude
the good life
games
utopia - Abstract:
- In The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia, Bernard Suits makes two significant contributions to the field of philosophy. The more recognized contribution is his analysis of games. Suits’ definition of games has become the gold standard in sport philosophy literature. The less recognized contribution is his elucidation of the relationship of games to the good life. Indeed, Suits makes a bold assertion. He claims that game playing is the central activity of the good life. Not only does this Utopian thesis have profound implications for sport philosophy but also for considerations of daily living. Yet, for the most part, it has been neglected. It will be the purpose of this study to examine the credibility and significance of Suits’ Utopian thesis. Because it has generally been neglected, the primacy of Suits’ Utopian thesis will be established. In order to elucidate the thesis, Suits’ accounts of games and Utopia will be elaborated respectively before identifying how Suits’ tethered these concepts in his vision of the ideal of existence. After considering the merits of his critics, a significant feature of games will be addressed. Suits identified the lusory attitude as the linchpin of his definition of games. Not only does it identify why games are meaningful human constructs but also explains why games play a central role in Utopian existence. Two features—gratuitous logic and lusory experience--will be presented in order to appreciate the role of the lusory attitude in determining the life most worth living. It is through our lusory experience, formalized in gratuitous logic, that we identify “just-right” challenges; a particular form of intrinsically valued problem-solving that makes life most worth living. The implications of the lusory attitude for our pursuit of Utopia existence are applied to our everyday existence by assessing how lusory education should inform educational practices in order to promote the good life.