PHIL 2010 midterm study guide The Grasshopper

What happens to the people in the Grasshopper's anxiety dream?

Everyone is playing elaborate games but cease to exist once they discover the truth that everyone is playing games. Also his discovery about the nature of life.

What are two difficulties that Grasshopper left his disciples?

1. The difference between play and work

2. Why the life of the Grasshopper is one dedicated specifically to GAME-play.

What is the Grasshopper's standard definition of game-play

To achieve a specific state of affairs (prelusory goal) using only the means permitted by the rules (lusory means) where the rules prohibit the use of more efficient means in favor of less efficient means (constitutive rules) and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such an activity (lusory attitude).

What is the Grasshopper's portable definition of game-play

Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.

According to Skepticus, what are the two general ways definitions can be inadequate?

definition is too broad or too narrow

Identify 4 general participants of gameplay discussed in chapter 4.

1. Players (those who recognize the rules of the game)
2. Triflers (those who recognize rules, but not the goals of a game)
3. Cheats (those who recognize the goals of a game but not the rules)
4. Spoil-sports (those who neither recognize the rules nor the goals of a game)

What are their (participants) respective relationships to prelusory goals and constitutive rules?

Triflers plays but don’t have a goal to win.

Cheats recognize goals but not rules.

Spolsports’s recognize nether rules nor goals

Players acknowledge claims of both the game and its institution

What is Grasshopper’s definition of efficiency?

the least expenditure of a limited resource necessary to achieve a given goal.

What is the constitutive rule in the game between Ivan and Abdul?

The agreed upon start time to meet for their duel

What kind of activities are sex and gameplay examples of?

‘trying and achieving’ paradoxical activities

What philosophical tool is employed to show Sir Edmund has a limitation in principle?

A Counterfactual: an abstraction of the argument, devoid of particulars

If some new and more efficient means were introduced into the situation, then the available means would once again be insufficiently limited.

What is Skepticus’ definition of gameplay?

Activities that reverse the ends and means of other activities

What kind of roles does Sneak make use of in playing his games?

assumed roles (a role that conveys misinformation about one’s identity)

What fallacy does Sneak suffer from?

a logical fallacy:

He mistakes sufficient conditions for necessary conditions

(impersonating on a global level is sufficient to his goal of impersonating, but not necessary)

What kind of roles does Drag make use of in playing his games?

proprietary roles (a role that does not convey misinformation about one's identity)

What fallacy does Drag suffer from?

logical fallacy

(he uses the wrong roles in the wrong situations)

What is the principle of prolongation?

moves which keep the game going instead of terminating the play.

What is an open game?

games which have no inherent goal but the achievement is to end the game

What is a closed game?

games which have an inherent goal with achievement doesn’t end the game

What are Skepticus’ two objections to Grasshopper’s claim that the definition of gameplay covers Open Games?

That there's a lack of prelusory goals and inefficient means in open games

What is the definition of radical instrumentalism as it pertains to gameplay?

The belief that games are only instruments to the ends of other means

What is the definition of radical autotelicity as it pertains to gameplay?

The belief that games are only played as ends of themselves

What character is introduced during Grasshopper’s resurrection?

Bernard Suits

What is Grasshopper’s definition of Utopia?

A state of affairs where people are only engaged in those activities which they value intrinsically.

What technological development is assumed for Utopia to exist?

All instrumental activity, scarcity, and mental shortcomings have been eliminated by machines- there's no more need for morals, art, or learning.

Which philosophers does Suits engage with to explain his method for a definitional inquiry?

Wittgenstein, Plato, Meno, Socrates, Aristotle

What is the name of the game played by Wittgenstein and the Malcoms? Who plays what?

SEM is the game

Sun: Mrs. Malcom

Earth: Mr. Malcom

Moon: Wittgenstein

What is Suits’ definition of play?

X is playing if and only if X has made a temporary reallocation to autotelic activities of resources primarily committed to instrumental purposes.

What is the aim for chapters 1-13?

Elucidation of Grasshopper logic, an examination of Grasshopper ideals, and an interpretation of Grasshopper dreams.

What is Skepticus’ objection in Ch4? What does it aim to show about Grasshopper’s definition? Explain the distinction between a game and the institution of a game.

Skepticus's objection is saying that the definition of game playing is incorrect because the first condition (the prelusory goal) isn't necessary. Chess is a game even though it does not meet that first condition. (the prelusory goal). A game is to voluntarily engage and try to overcome unnecessary obstacles, while an institution of a game is when constitutive rules are upheld in the game so the game can be played many times.

What is Skepticus’ objection in Ch5? What does it aim to show about Grasshopper’s definition? Explain Grasshopper’s definition of efficiency in the context of a game.

Skepticus argues that Grasshopper’s definition is too broad and could allow for incorrect classification of games because some activities could involve involuntarily taking on inefficiencies. Grasshopper’s definition of efficiency in a game is when efficient means are used to achieve ends and the rules create inefficient means to make reaching the goal more difficult.

What is Kolnai’s paradox concerning games? How does Grasshopper resolve it?

That playing a game needs both an aim to win the game and to accept unnecessary obstacles that make it difficult to win, which creates a paradox if voluntarily wanting to win while also creating difficulties. Grasshopper resolves this by arguing that to really win is to play the game itself.

What are trying and achieving activities? Explain Grasshopper’s argument for why sex is not a game.

Activities that are each sought as ends in themselveswhere trying are the different aims of laying and achieving is winning. Sex is not a game because in a sexual act you can complete the activity by reaching an orgasm, and for games you can complete them by losing or winning but that does not happen for sex.

What is Skepticism objection in Ch8? What does it aim to show about Grasshoppers definition? Explain Grasshoppers response and define what it means for there to be a limitation in principle

Skepticus’objection is that not all games are competitive and have rules that limit means to make the prolusory goal difficut to achieve. That there are one player game that aren’t competitive and don’t have the constitutive rules that Grasshopper speaks of. I. response Grasshopper talks about how mountain climbing as a game where one makes their own constitutive rules to reach a prolusory goal. Creating a challenge by making your own rules against efficient means and choosing a goal when the means for its achievement Lismore difficult explains a limitation in principle.

What is Sketpicus’ objection in Ch9? What does it aim do show about Grasshopper’s definition? Identify and explain Skepticism’ definition of gameplay in opposition to Grasshopper’s definition of gameplay.

Skepticus’ objection is that Grasshopper’s definition is too narrow and doesn’t support games involving make believe because they don’t have the goal of ending the game. Skepticus instead defines gameplay as “games that reverse the ends and means of other activities” which support role-playing games that Grasshopper’s definition doesn’t include.

What is Utopia? Give Grasshopper’s argument for why Striver’s and Seeker’s respective activities are examples of gameplay in Utopia.

a state of affairs wherein people are engaged only in those activities which they value intrinsically.

What are the two difficulties (i.e., perplexities) that Prudence and Skepticus grapple with in Ch2? What clarifications does Grasshopper provide in Ch14- 15

The meanings of Work and Play and the life’s a grasshopper is “devoted exclusively to intrinsically valuable activities”. Grasshopper clarifies the forts difficulty by explaining how Work is an activity which is instrumentally valuable and Play as an activity which is intrinsically valuable. For the second difficulty, Grasshopper explains how make a game out of solving the riddle by figuring it out themselves (inefficient) instead of receiving help (efficient).

What is the ‘Alexandrian condition’ in Utopia? What is Grasshopper’s
What is the ‘Alexandrian condition’ in Utopia? What is Grasshopper’s response to how Utopians can overcome it? How can you incorporate Grasshopper’s advice into your life? Give a specific example.

In Bernard Suits's "The Grasshopper," the "Alexandrian condition" refers to a state of existential emptiness that would arise in a perfect utopia where all needs are met and there is no longer a sense of striving or achievement, similar to the idea of Alexander the Great having "no more worlds to conquer" once he had conquered everything; Grasshopper suggests that Utopians can overcome this by actively engaging in meaningful games and play, which provide challenges and goals even in a perfect world; to apply this in your life, you could intentionally introduce playful elements into routine tasks, like setting small challenges for yourself while completing a mundane chore to add a sense of accomplishment and engagement. 

What is the game Wittgenstein and the Malcolm’s play in Appendix 2? What is Suits’ argument that it is a genuine game and not a counterexample to his definition of gameplay?

Game is SEM. Suits argues that while Malcom says that SEM doesn’t have the factors that define games, it doesn’t matter and uses an example of a game called CMO.

What is Grasshoppers anxiety dream? What is Grasshoppers vision? How do they foreshadow the discussions found within the text of The Grasshopper? Give examples.

People disappeared when finding out their lives were games because they thought their existence was meaningless or a mere triviality due to their valuing of games. His vision is of The Strivers and the Seekers delude themselves into believing that houses produced by less efficient means are more valuable than those produced by more efficient means. They persuade others of their opinions, and the populace eventually rejects the computers that brought about Utopia. Legislation is passed that bans their use and the tasks that were once games (carpentry, science, farming, etc.) eventually become viewed as what is necessary for human survival. Grasshopper knows that most people will not want to spend their lives playing games since life is viewed as only worth living if people are doing something useful. People disappeared when finding out their lives were games because they thought their existence was meaningless or a mere triviality due to their valuing of games which explains the riddle Grasshopper leave Skepticus and Prudence.