Reflections on Play, Sport, and Culture

This book represents a renewed general view of human play with an interdisciplinary methodology, encompassing philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and the history of play and behavioural analysis of playing.

The psychological dependence of humanity on playing is huge. Its nature and functional utility are unclear. These linked yet contradictory issues have created the intrigue that has fed philosophical thought for more than two hundred years. During this period, philosophy transferred many of the subjects of its analysis to the aegis of the humanities that it spawned. Each of them pays close attention to human play and studies it with its own methods of theoretical and experimental research. Thus, what was once a general philosophical comprehension of human play has branched out into different directions, definitions, and theories. This new book represents a renewed general view of human play. The unique quality of the volume lies in its fairly rare interdisciplinary methodology, encompassing a broad spectrum of the humanities: philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and the history of play, and behavioral analysis of playing, which have been done by the author. As a result, the volume ends with the proposition of a new general approach to human play that is named by the author "play field theory". Such an approach makes reflections on play, sport, and culture a source for all scholars studying play, by widening their knowledge through both a new general view and their familiarization with notions from neighboring fields and disciplines.

Autorentext

Felix Lebed, Ph.D., is Head of the M.Ed. degree program in the Physical Education Department at Kaye Academic College of Education, Israel.

Inhalt

Part I: The idea of play

Chapter 1: "Slow-moving" Philosophy of Play

Usefulness of Play before Philosophical Comprehension

First Steps Toward Philosophy: Functionalism as a Key for Explanations of Human Play

Bibliography

Chapter 2: Principal Definability of Play

Introduction

Play, Games, and Sports in the English Language (a Cultural-anthropological View)

Reflection of Human Play in Different Languages in the 20th and 21st Centuries

The Wittgensteinian Obstacle

Bibliography

Chapter 3: Definition of Play as Escape

Introduction

Qualitative Content Analysis of Philosophical Ideas about Human Play

Discussion

Bibliography

Chapter 4: Sport is Play Too

Introduction

The Diversity of the Concept of Sport in English Cultural Tradition

Is Physical Activity Necessary and Sufficient for a Definition of Sport?

Sport as Play and Game

Officialization and Unproductiveness as Necessary Characteristics of Sport

Bibliography

Part II: "Contemplation" of Play and Games Playing

Introduction to Part II

Chapter 5: Games' Typologies

Common and Unique in Games Humans Play

Typologies of Games by Aims and Forms of Playing

Three-measure Taxonomy of Games and Sports

Bibliography

Chapter 6: Ways Moving from Games to Sports

Introduction

Crystallization

Inventing Games by Developing and Adopting Original Ideas

"Natural selection"

Bibliography

Chapter 7: Key Characteristics of an Invasive Game

Mutually Active Conflict between Sides

"Perturbation" and a Personal Space-time in Invasive Games

Bibliography

Part III: Play and Society

Introduction to Part III

Chapter 8. Social Person in Play

Introduction

"Being There": Kinds of Human Play in Different Behavioral Environments

Personal vs. Individual Play

Emergent Indeterminacy: Hidden Flows of Small Groups Playing

Wanted Suspense: Large Groups Playing

Conclusions

Bibliography

Chapter 9. Masses in Play

Introduction

Play and Social Communication in Ancient Sacral Ritual

Play in Sacral Mysteries

Festival vs. Carnival Play in the Grandstands

Summary

Bibliography

Chapter 10. Sports Spectators and Fans in Play

Accepted Typologies of Sport Spectators

New Typology of Sport Spectators as "players": Empirical Research

Appendix: Questionnaire for Spectators and Fans

Bibliography

Chapter 11: Professional Sport in Symbiosis with Fans

Introduction

From play to Meta-sport

Dialectics in the Transformations of Professional Sport

Bibliography

Afterword: Introduction to the Play Field Theory (PFT)