Who cares about winning

Bibliographic Data

ID21603176
AuthorsNathaniel Baron‐Schmitt (0000-0001-9511-8367, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume31
Issue1
Pages248-265
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejop.12805
OpenAlexW4281786094
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited35

Why do we so often care about the outcomes of games when nothing is at stake? There is a paradox here, much like the paradox of fiction, which concerns why we care about the fates and threats of merely fictional beings. I argue that the paradox threatens to overturn a great deal of what philosophers have thought about caring, severing its connection to value and undermining its moral weight. I defend a solution to the paradox that draws on Kendall Walton's solution to the paradox of fiction, developing his idea that it be extended to games. The solution takes games to involve make‐believe: in particular, players and spectators make‐believe that the outcome of the game matters. I also explore how the phenomenon extends beyond games. And I explore some moral implications: in particular, my view preserves the idea that we have reason not to impede others in their pursuit of what they care about

Economics · Epistemology · Mathematical economics · Nothing · Phenomenon · Computer Science · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · War, Ethics, and Justification

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