Quote by James P. Carse

““Fields of play simply do not impose themselves on us. Therefore, all the limitations of finite play are self-limitations.””

James P. Carse

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More by James P. Carse

“The issue here is not whether self-veiling can be avoided, or even should be avoided. Indeed, no finite play is possible without it. The…

James P. Carse

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“No one can play a game alone. One cannot be human by oneself. There is no selfhood where there is no community. We do not relate to others as the persons we are; we are who we are in relating to others. Simultaneously the others with whom we are in relation are themselves in relation. We cannot relate to anyone…

James P. Carse

A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.

James P. Carse

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“Immortality is therefore the supreme example of the contradictoriness of finite play: It is a life one cannot live.”

James P. Carse

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“Evil is never intended as evil. Indeed, the contradiction inherent in all evil is that it originates in the desire to eliminate evil. “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Evil arises in the honored belief that history can be tidied up, brought to a sensible conclusion. It is evil to act as though the past is bringing us…

James P. Carse

“To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated. Education discovers an increasing richness in the past, because it sees what is unfinished there. Training regards the past as finished and the future as to be finished. Education leads toward a continuing self-discovery; training leads toward a final self-definition. Training repeats…

James P. Carse

“It is a highly valued function of society to prevent changes in the rules of the many games it embraces... Deviancy, however, is the very essence of culture. Whoever merely follows the script, merely repeating the past, is culturally impoverished. There are variations in the quality of deviation; not all divergence from the past is culturally significant. Any attempt to…

James P. Carse

“...religion ceases to be religion when its poetic authority is recast as civic authority.”

James P. Carse

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“Although it may be evident enough in theory that whoever plays a finite game plays freely, it is often the case that finite players…

James P. Carse

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“We are playful when we engage others at the level of choice, when there is no telling in advance where our relationship with them…

James P. Carse

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“Surprise in finite play is the triumph of the past over the future. The Master Player who already knows what moves are to be made has a decisive advantage over the unprepared player who does not yet know what moves will be made. A finite player is trained not only to anticipate every future possibility, but to control the future,…

James P. Carse