Editors
D. Schwartz (Ed.)
Document Type
Occasional Paper
Publication Date
1-2012
Publication Title
Center for Gaming Research Occasional Paper Series: Paper 13
Publisher Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
First page number:
1
Last page number:
20
Abstract
This paper develops a philosophy of play through an analysis of the foot wager of the Sphinx. Applying a construction of the cosmology of Plato along with a Socratic etymology of her riddle’s answer, it provides a reading of Sphingian contestation consistent with contemporary practices of deception found in modern games like poker. I argue that such deception is constitutive of the excessive illumination of signaling tells in games and that such excess, in turn, is indicative in allied political contexts of a covetous and acquisitive obsession with light. This theory makes use also of Ralph Ellison’s refiguring of Oedipal play as a theory of tyranny and serves as a riposte to the psychoanalytic idea of the Oedipus complex.
Keywords
Deception; Gambling; Oedipus; Philosophy of playtells; Riddles; Sphinx; True names
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Classics | Gaming and Casino Operations Management | Social Psychology and Interaction
File Format
Language
English
Repository Citation
Smith, D. A.
(2012).
Souls/Soles of Signs Tell Totems and the Sphinx Wager. In D. Schwartz (Ed.),
Center for Gaming Research Occasional Paper Series: Paper 13
1-20.
Available at:
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/occ_papers/9
Included in
Classics Commons, Gaming and Casino Operations Management Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons