Wittgenstein famously wrote about games in a book called Philosophical Investigations, one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century. To contextualize his thoughts, Part 1 of this series provides an introduction to Wittgenstein’s life and philosophy. Part two will discuss the most famous passages from the Philosophical Investigations where he discusses games. These passages form part of a much wider critique of the philosophy of language and meaning. A future third episode will examine subsequent philosophical criticism of Wittgenstein’s remarks on games from the point of view of games and sport.

Watch the video version on YouTube here.

Credits

Written and presented by James Cartlidge
Produced by Greta Rauleac
Original Music by James Cartlidge

Breaking the Game is a YouTube channel and podcast series about philosophy and video game studies. It aims to facilitate discussions about games, the games industry and philosophy with wider audiences. It mainly (though not exclusively) focusses on the indie games sphere, and current and future philosophical topics include phenomenology, existentialism, political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of mind/consciousness, cognitive science, psychoanalysis and psychology. It is based on the postdoctoral research of James Cartlidge.

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