FINITE AND INFINITE GAMES / JAMES P. CARSE

James P. Carse (1932-2020) was an American academic and author, who taught as a professor of history and literature of religion at New York University for thirty years, and also was the Director of the Religious Studies. 

According to the explanation at www.jamescarse.com, a political science professor at the university gathered about a dozen faculty members to discuss the game theory, and Carse took on the role of the philosopher in the group. As their discussions made clear, ‘game theory had chiefly to do with winning conflicts, or minimizing losses where winning was impossible. Without advanced mathematical skills, I found myself reflecting on the nature of play itself, especially play that saw no value in winning, or even play that actively avoided winning.’ The result was this book, initially published in 1986. A capricorn. 

As he describes them, finite games are played for the purpose of winning, infinite games are played for the purpose of continuing the play.

For both, ‘No one can play who is forced to play’ applies. A finite game has a definitive beginning, and winning it ends it. Spatial boundaries exist for all finite conflicts, from board games to world wars. For infinite players the beginning time is of no importance, and there are no spatial boundaries or specific locations for the play. The rules for finite games are agreed upon and contractual before the game begins; in infinite games the rules are continually revised to ensure the continuity of the game. 

‘To be playful is not to be trivial or frivilous, or to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to [surprise]. It is, in fact, seriousness that closes itself to consequence, for seriousness is dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for possibility whatever the cost to oneself’. Finite players prepare against surprise, infinite players prepare for surprise. ‘Inasmuch as the future is always surprising, the past is always changing’. 

Finite players need to conceal themselves to inflict surprise on their opponent. In finite play, the contradiction is that all play is played to put an end to play. In infinite play, the paradox is that the players do not play for themselves, as the goal is to continue the play. 

Power is a concept that belongs only in finite play, yet if one has sufficient power before the game, what follows is not a game at all- since one does not win by being powerful, but becomes powerful through winning, so ‘to see power is to look backward in time’. And power is given by others. When it is assumed, it is through silencing of the others. Carse argues that evil arises with the belief that history can be tidied up and brought to a conclusion, and infinite players understand the inevitability of evil: They do not attempt to eliminate evil in others or in themselves, for to do so is the very impulse of evil itself. 

Analogies of culture, society, art, health, sex, nature, communication, gardening, travel, waste, myths, etc. as finite and infinite games are discussed in the book.

Culture is an infinite game, and society is a finite game he says; deviancy is the essence of culture, but is resisted in society. One defense of the society against the culture is through making its artists producers of property. Culture florishes not when the poeitai raise rebellious voices (which also become propaganda), but when they ignore all that, and concern themselves with bringing society back into play (not competitive play). The creative/artistic mind is not one that acquires skills or techniques, but one who is prepared for a surprise. 

‘Unless we believe we actually are the losers the audience sees us to be, we will not have the necessary desire to win’. Rememberance of a concrete past is therefore vital for finite players for the sustenance of their struggle. 

Finite games can be played within infinite games, with an infinite player’s ‘playful’ attitude. One such example is in gardening- one can treat nature as a machine, controlling it and expecting results. Or design a culture that is able to adjust to the myriad surprises of the nature. 

‘The opposite of resonance is amplification. A choir is the unified expression of voices resonating with each other; a loudspeaker is the amplification of a single voice, excluding all others. A bell resonates, a cannon amplifies. We listen to the bell, we are silenced by the cannon…There is no possibility of conversation with the loudspeaker’. 

And ideology is the amplification of myth, he says, in the beginnings of evil is the desire to eradicate evil. And win all games, and you no longer have anyone to play with. 

‘Infinite players are not serious actors in any story, but the joyful poets of a story that continues to originate what they cannot finish’. 

The writing/content/flow of the text gave me the impression of a hermit (or maybe just a simple man) approaching me in the forest, shining his lamp in my face, a joyful light, then walking away in a different direction with the dimming of his light. 

Carse makes a compelling philosophical argument about how humans differ in their attitudes toward living their lives, through the metaphor of finite and infinite games. Some of his analogies are not as strong as others, and the infinite player spirit he favors does not really manifest itself in his voice- although it is there in his words. Sautoy writing about games exudes that spirit, for example- and the lack of this in this book is I think the main reason why its punch is not as effective as it could be. Yet, it has become a book I refer to again and again in a myriad of contexts.

‘To be playful is not to be trivial or frivilous, or to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence. It is, in fact, seriousness that closes itself to consequence, for seriousness is a dread of the unpredictable outcome of open possibility. To be serious is to press for a specified conclusion. To be playful is to allow for possibility whatever the cost to oneself.’

‘Inasmuch as the future is always surprising, the past is always changing.’

‘[The] contradiction inherent in all evil is that it originates in the desire to eliminate evil.’

‘Unless we believe we actually are the losers the audience sees us to be, we will not have the necessary desire to win.’

‘The opposite of resonance is amplification. A choir is the unified expression of voices resonating with each other; a loudspeaker is the amplification of a single voice, excluding all others. A bell resonates, a cannon amplifies. We listen to the bell, we are silenced by the cannon.’

Author: James P. Carse
Title: Finite and Infinite Games
Published: 2023, by Free Press
First published: 1986
Pages: 152