This philosophical
dissertation concerns the nature of play, a nebulous concept that is
nonetheless vitally important to understanding the human being. Play is older
than the spoken word and represents a mode of being in the world for many
animals, including us. Many thinkers have attempted to unravel the mysteries of
play but it has long resisted attempts to fully capture it. I begin Part One by
defining play – a trickier proposition that one might expect – and examining
the biological origin of the instinct for play in boredom and fun. Part One is
a genetic account of play. Part Two contains a memetic account of play – these
five chapters look at personal, human play in particular. They cover five philosophical
topics: how the play concept has been used in the history of philosophy, the
phenomenological experience of play, the relations between play and reason, the
aesthetic and ethical dimensions of play, and the relation between play and the
production of culture. By examining the discourse surrounding the concept of
play in these spheres of human activity, this treatise provides a thorough philosophical
understanding of play as a foundation upon which future studies of the play
concept can build.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/17089754 |
| Date | 03 December 2021 |
| Creators | Jason Liban Rose (11746811) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/A_Philosophical_Analysis_of_the_Play_Concept/17089754 |
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