Abstract
Using Bernard Suits’s brilliant analysis (contra Wittgenstein) of
playing a game, this paper examines the intrinsic value of game-playing. It
argues that two elements in Suits’s analysis make success in games
difficult, which is one ground of value, while a third involves choosing a
good activity for the property that makes it good, which is a further
ground. The paper concludes by arguing that game-playing is the
paradigm modern (Marx, Nietzsche) as against classical (Aristotle) value:
since its goal is intrinsically trivial, its value is entirely one of process rather than product, journey rather than destination.