Finite and Infinite Games is a book by religion scholar James P. Carse.
With this philosophy text, Carse demonstrates a way of looking at actions in life as being a part of at least two types of what he describes as "games", finite and infinite. Both games are played within rules, as agreed upon by the participants; however, the meaning of the rules are different between the two types of games. The book stresses a non-serious (or "playful") view ...
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Finite and Infinite Games is a book by religion scholar James P. Carse.
With this philosophy text, Carse demonstrates a way of looking at actions in life as being a part of at least two types of what he describes as "games", finite and infinite. Both games are played within rules, as agreed upon by the participants; however, the meaning of the rules are different between the two types of games. The book stresses a non-serious (or "playful") view of life on the part of "players", referring to their choices as "moves", and societal constructs and mores as "rules" and "boundaries".
His idea is that when a person sees themselves as "playing" in "games" usually seen as serious events, they are more likely to keep an open mind and find themselves less bothered by things that might have troubled them a lot in the past (although that can be an overgeneralized statement, as Carse frequently stresses that sometimes seriousness is a required rule of play in a finite game).
He regularly uses...
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