Preference to frosh. Are games genuinely valuable uses of our limited time on this mortal coil? Are they, as Bernard Suits suggests, the only intrinsically valuable pursuit? Or are they merely ways to temporarily escape a harsher reality? Are they training exercises for success in real life? And if they don't matter, why are we so drawn to them? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, PHIL 15-PHIL 24-year-olds spend an average of PHIL 90 mins/day playing video games. That's a lot of time! We want to give this important class of human activities the philosophical attention it deserves. We'll examine some central questions in the philosophy of games such as: Why play games? What even is a game? Is there anything that all games have in common? Wittgenstein famously claimed that this is a question with no good answer - we'll see if we can do better! In addition, we'll look at some broader philosophical issues that can be illuminated by thinking about games. These include: What makes something valuable? What are the origins of communication? How do our ethical frameworks translate to virtual worlds?
3 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
Preference to frosh. Are games genuinely valuable uses of our limited time on this mortal coil? Are they, as Bernard Suits suggests, the only intrinsically valuable pursuit? Or are they merely ways to temporarily escape a harsher reality? Are they training exercises for success in real life? And if they don't matter, why are we so drawn to them? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15-24-year-olds spend an average of 90 mins/day playing video games. That's a lot of time! We want to give this important class of human activities the philosophical attention it deserves. We'll examine some central questions in the philosophy of games such as: Why play games? What even is a game? Is there anything that all games have in common? Wittgenstein famously claimed that this is a question with no good answer - we'll see if we can do better! In addition, we'll look at some broader philosophical issues that can be illuminated by thinking about games. These include: What makes something valuable? What are the origins of communication? How do our ethical frameworks translate to virtual worlds?
Offered in Spring 2026 at Stanford University.