Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
by James P. Carse
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Book Reviews of Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
Book Review: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
Summary: 5 Stars
The subtitle of this book is "A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility." This puts quite succinctly what this project is all about. Carse creates a number of distinctions through which he interprets life: finite and infinite games, society and culture, gardens and machines. Throughout, he comes again and again to reminders of choice and possibility. He reminds us that the games we play we choose to play, that we choose to assume our roles, that our society is a collective choice. He points to the ways that we mask these choices from ourselves and provides the insight we need to be aware of our self-veiling.This is what philosophy should be like. It is philosophical poetry. One of the most unique aspects of the book is that nowhere does Carse attack another view or provide a first principles defense of his own view. He provides a vision, helps us reinterpret the world, and then lets the insight it provides be its own defense. The following quote from the text reflects much on Carse's project:
"Storytellers do not convert their listeners; they do not move them into the territory of a superior truth. Ignoring the issue of truth and falsehood altogether, they offer only vision. Storytelling is therefore not combative; it does not succeed or fail. A story cannot be obeyed. Instead of placing one body of knowledge against another, storytellers invite us to return from knowledge to thinking, from a bounding way of looking to an horizonal way of seeing." (sec 78)
Perhaps Carse cannot succeed in his project, but certainly his vision is compelling.
Robert Pirsig is quoted on the back cover: "Normally we add new facts to existing knowledge. But once in a while a book like this comes along and does just the opposite - it adds a new pattern of knowledge to existing facts. The result is striking." This is perhaps as good a recommendation as I could give. The book is short and divided into short sections. It is an easy read, even if you take it slow. Reading this book is taking a journey you won't regert.
Book Review: Practically a unified-field theory of human relationships
Summary: 5 Stars
Professor Carse writes in the first chapter, "There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play." From that beginning he broadly defines "game" in a way that includes, defines, and lays an analytical foundation for all relationships. The book's subtitle is "A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility," and it is a profound work, practically a unified-field theory of human relationships.For example, the book contains an interesting theory about sexuality, as being either a finite game (§§ 54-59) or an infinite game (§§ 60-62). The contrast between perceiving sexual relationships as finite or infinite is startling. On a broader (yet surprisingly even more personal) level, in his chapter titled "A Finite Game Occurs Within a World" (ch. 4), Carse explores the individual's struggle with defining, regarding, and regulating the world around oneself in a way that includes everyone around one, or just oneself alone.
The first step in appreciating this book is understanding that any relationship or process can be characterized in "finite" or "infinite" terms. The second step is recognizing that that characterization is almost always a matter of choice and that, by choosing to characterize a relationship as "infinite," one can redefine it in a meaningful and healthy way. After reading this book, you may never look at the world around you, or at any relationship, or at yourself in quite the same way. This book reconfigures thinking about interpersonal reality as deeply as Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" reconfigured thinking about the scientific method.
Book Review: Ripe, but a little game-y :)
Summary: 3 Stars
In a way, this book fulfills Wittgenstein's prediction that the philosophy of the future will be written as a poetic composition. Whether that's good or bad for philosophy, well...I wouldn't call "Finite and Infinite Games" a 'willful complication of thought,' as one reviewer put it; if it is, it is only in the sense that new ways of looking at the world seem complicated at first. That said, Carse's enthusiasm for his concept of finite and infinite games tends to get the better of him, inasmuch as he is often too quick to file phenomena into either the 'finite' category or the 'infinite' category, when a more subtle approach would be appropriate. But, as I said, this is more poetry than science.
Which is not to say that Carse's book is useless, or 'metaphysical': in fact, I found it to be one of the more profound books I've ever read, if only for the many startling thoughts contained in it. Carse's treatments of sexuality, the unspeakability of nature, indeed, the whole idea of an infinite activity, all resonated with me, if not for their truth, then for the possibility of their truth.
Possibility, in fact, is a major theme of this book: as Carse puts it: "Who must play cannot play." Which means, you have a lot more freedom than you think, if you are aware of the customary nature of human activities and how their boundaries can be played with. One doesn't have infinite power; indeed, infinite players, according to Carse, do not seek power as an end but only as a means to continuing play. How much truth there is in such a claim I leave to the reader, where it is sure to be much more lively.
In short, read this book, be captivated by it, but don't expect any final answers.
Book Review: Really interesting construction, sometimes difficult
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite books because it attempts to construct a new view of the world piece by piece and actually succeeds. This is not to say that the view is right or wrong. It is just rare that someone constructs a view that could be viewed as a "revolt" against our daily experience of structure, but does so in a logical, fun, and non-threatening way. We end up left with the choice to change how we participate in the daily activities or not. There is no requirement to overthrow or denounce your own past actions or anyone else's.
I like Carse's use of a game as the base structure because it makes it easy to say, "Hey, we're just playing a game here...suspend your normal judgment and play by these rules." He then proceeds to detail specific definitions of many terms to set up contrasting ways of looking at the world. He also uses some humorous analogies. It is common when I am in certain situations to remember that people do compete passionately to become the "baton twirling champion of Indiana."
For me, the beginning sections of this book move rather quickly. It sometimes seems as if much is obvious and that this is more of a clever, pun book. But, it definitely gets more difficult a third to a half-way through. So, be prepared to reread some sections. But, the consistency of thought never ends and the building of deeper ideas on top of simpler ones makes the book have a definite flow versus just be some inspirational passages.
This is highly recommended. I have purchased many copies as gifts over the years.
Book Review: Rethinking all that we do - in a creative way
Summary: 5 Stars
James Carse's seemingly simplistic reduction of all human life to either finite or infinite games is not so simple after all.
The ring of truth in the reduction, that games are played either toward an end with a victor or toward continuation with meaning, holds because one can easily understand its application in any setting in life. (War, love, marriage, work, religion, politics, etc.)
However, what does one do with this recognition? The reader is challenged to apply Carse's informing model into one's own life. For example, sitting on a non-profit's board one can either seek to enact one's own agenda no matter what (finite) or find, through relationships and openness, an agenda which serves a larger constiuency (infinite).
I was often reminded of Edwin Markham's little (but epic) poem:
"He drew a circle which shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took him in."
Finite and Infinite - which would you choose? Are you more about titles or inherent identity? Are you more about success or relationships?
What would a world (part of the vast infinite reality of existence) look like if it were structured on infinite games only? And isn't that, maybe, just what existence itself is trying to teach us but we haven't reach the level of spiritual complexity at which we can learn and remember that simple truth.