[John]
There are two kinds of games, finite, and infinite. The point of a
finite game is to win. The point of an infinite game is to play.
[Arlo]
"Infinite speech is that mode of discourse that consistently reminds
us of the unspeakability of nature. It bears no claim to truth,
originating from nothing but the genius of the speaker. Infintite
speech is therefore not *about* anything, it is always *to* someone.
It is not command, but address. That language is not about anything
gives it its status as metaphor. ... It is not the role of metaphor
to draw our sight to what is there, but to draw our vision to what is
not there and, indeed, cannot be anywhere. Metaphor is horizontal,
reminding us that it is one's vision that is limited, and not what
one is viewing." (Finite and Infinite Games, Carse).
Many times when I read Carse I thought he must have been influenced
by Pirsig. I see John (in ZMM) as a "finite mechanic", Pirsig himself
as an "infinite mechanic". John only cares about the "win scenario"
(the bike is working), for Pirsig the maintenance is to cultivate a
deeper relationship with the motorcycle. For John, his relationship
with his motorcycle is "command", he tells it what to do and it
should do it. For Pirsig it's "address", a dialogic, ongoing exchange
that seeks to bring these two interlocutors into a harmonious relationship.
I think this idea "address" ties nicely with Bakhtin's notion of
"dialogism", seeing all language as "responsive to" and "expectant
of" its place in the historical narrative (what Carse might call the
"infinite narrative"). From Wikipedia, "This means that everything
anybody ever says always exists in response to things that have been
said before and in anticipation of things that will be said in
response. We never, in other words, speak in a vacuum. As a result,
all language (and the ideas which language contains and communicates)
is dynamic, relational and engaged in a process of endless
redescriptions of the world."
Carse continues his thought started above, "Finite language exists
completely before it is spoken. There is first a language- *then* we
learn to speak it. Infinite language exists only as it is spoken.
There is first a language- *when* we learn to speak it. ... Infinite
speakers must wait to see what is done with their language by the
listeners before they can know what they have said. Infinite speech
does not expect there hearer to see what is already known to the
speaker, but to share a vision the speaker could not have had without
the response of the listener."
At 10:36 AM 6/30/2009, you wrote:
>
>
> And, if you have figured it out, what's the point in playing?
There are two kinds of games, finite, and infinite. The point of a finite
game is to win. The point of an infinite game is to play.
John on a mad dash out the door ...
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