ABSTRACT

Play is a vital component of the social life and well-being of both children and adults. This book examines the concept of play and considers a variety of the related philosophical issues. It also includes meta-analyses from a range of philosophers and theorists, as well as an exploration of some key applied ethical considerations.

The main objective of The Philosophy of Play is to provide a richer understanding of the concept and nature of play and its relation to human life and values, and to build disciplinary and paradigmatic bridges between scholars of philosophy and scholars of play. Including specific chapters dedicated to children and play, and exploring the work of key thinkers such as Plato, Sartre, Wittgenstein, Gadamer, Deleuze and Nietzsche, this book is invaluable reading for any advanced student, researcher or practitioner with an interest in education, playwork, leisure studies, applied ethics or the philosophy of sport.

chapter |12 pages

2 All the world's a stage

Childhood and the play of being

chapter |10 pages

3 Playing with words

Further comment on Suits' definition

chapter |10 pages

4 Playing well

Wittgenstein's language-games and the ethics of discourse

chapter |12 pages

6 Gadamer and the game of understanding

Dialogue-play and opening to theOther

chapter |11 pages

7 Language at play

Games and the linguistic turn after Wittgenstein and Gadamer

chapter |11 pages

8 Whoever cannot give, also receives nothing

Nietzsche's playful spectator

chapter |10 pages

10 Passion play

Play, free will and the sublime

chapter |11 pages

12 ‘We sneak off to play what we want!'

Bakhtin's carnival and children's play 1

chapter |11 pages

14 Towards a spatial theory of playwork

What can Lefebvre offer as a response to playwork's inherent contradictions?

chapter |10 pages

15 To play or to parent?

An analysis of the adult-child interaction in make-believe play

chapter |11 pages

16 Game over

Calling time on kidult accounts of masculinity 1