How do we define and understand the nature of play? In this episode, Calum and Laura speak to Michael Ridge, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. They discuss Ridge's functionalist theory of play, the difference between playing a game and playing full-stop, whether animals can engage in transgressive play and whether play can be considered as a moral virtue.

About the Guest

Michael Ridge is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. For most of his career he has worked on metaethics, where he has defended a new form of expressivism.

More recently, Ridge has turned his attention to the philosophy of play and games, where he has published a series of articles over the past five years. As of the recording of this podcast, Ridge is on research leave writing a book on the nature and value of play, tentatively entitled Why So Serious?.

He is also writing a separate book, provisionally titled Beyond Meaning, on the concept of meaning in life and how we would be better off without that concept, or anyway without caring about meaning in life. Playfulness is important in the context of that book as well, as Ridge argues that cultivating playfulness is essential to not taking yourself too seriously, which he argues is the key to fully abandoning the desire for meaning in life.

Links & Citations

Brosnan SF, De Waal FB. 2003 Monkeys reject unequal pay. Nature. Sep 18;425(6955):297-9. Burke, R. 1971. “Work” and “Play.” Ethics, 82(1), 33–47. Ridge, Michael. 2021. Why So Serious? The Nature and Value of Play. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 105: 406– 434. Suits Bernard and Frank Newfeld. 1978. The Grasshopper : Games Life and Utopia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.