“Not Just Child’s Play: Suits’ Gameplay as a Blueprint for Living Well”--Francisco Lopez Frias (Utah State)

The works of late Bernard Suits have exerted a decisive influence on the development of the subfields of the philosophy of sport and the philosophy of games since the 1970s. Yet, only in the last decade has his work attracted sustained interest from philosophers outside these specialized areas. The two most well-known Suits commentators in the broader field of philosophy are Thomas Hurka and C. Thi Nguyen, who have drawn on his ideas to explore the nature of values and art as well as to clarify the value of engaging in gameplay. Sport philosophers have similarly relied on Suits’ ideas to provide descriptive analyses of sport, aiming to capture its essence through definitions and to evaluate the value of participating in sports. My interpretation of Suits’ oeuvre, while not dismissing these significant contributions, is that the ultimate goal of his reflections on games is more ambitious. He does not “merely” want to define gameplay or justify its value but intends to show how gameplay can shed light on the most fundamental philosophical question of all: the Socratic question of how we should live. In this presentation, I will outline my interpretation of Suits’ ethical proposal for leading a good life and critically evaluate it, pointing out some potential limitations. In doing so, I will demonstrate how he engages with key philosophical figures and traditions, including Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia, Kant’s account of autonomy, Romantic-era ideas of freedom, and the psychoanalytic view of the unconscious, among other influential philosophical contributions. 

Francisco Javier Lopez Frias is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science at Utah State University. He earned his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Valencia in Spain, after completing a master’s in Ethics and Democracy and a BA in Philosophy. Before joining USU, he spent nine years at Penn State where he held appointments with the Rock Ethics Institute, the Philosophy Department (courtesy), and the Bioethics Program. He's been a visiting scholar at Oxford’s Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics, the Franklin Institute in Alcalá de Henares, and the University of Rome–Foro Italico. Honors include the Robert Scott Kretchmar Student Essay Award and the Warren Fraleigh Distinguished Scholar Award. He currently serves as President of the Spanish Association for the Philosophy of Sport and as Editor-in-Chief of Sport, Ethics and Philosophy. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses exploring the connections between human movement—especially sport—and ethics. Frias's research explores topics related to the nature of sport and how we might improve sporting practices. These include evaluating doping, philosophical perspectives on play and games, and broader issues of justice and inclusion, such as how playing time is distributed in youth sports. He also investigates the ethics of concussions and athlete health. He has published over one hundred academic works ranging from journal articles to book chapters and monographs in both English and Spanish and regularly presents at conferences worldwide. He's also been consulted by journalists (CNN, Bloomberg, El País) and public figures (Headfirst: A concussion podcast) interested in the ethical dimensions of sport.