The play of man

Front matter

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

AT

CORNELL UNTVBHSITY

Author's Preface

In this work my aim is to present the anthropological aspects of the same subject treated of in my psychological investigation of animal play, published in 1896, which may be said to have been a pioneer attempt in its department. In the discussion of human play, however, I am supported by valuable philosophical works, among which I acknowledge myself especially indebted to those of Schaller, Lazarus, and Colozza. In regard to the standpoint from which I approach the general problem of play, it is hardly necessary for me to speak at length here. It is the same practice theory on which I intrenched myself in the earlier work. The difficulties in its way, arising from our as yet imperfect understanding of human impulse life, are fuUy allowed for in the introduction to the first section, and I ana. convinced that the results attained by its adoption will, on the whole, justify the method of treatment which I have chosen.

Since it was my interest in aesthetics which first induced me to turn my attention to the subject of play, it is natural that the assthetic phase of the question should be conspicuous in this volume. Still, I wish it to be distinctly understood that my inquiry has not been conducted solely in obedience to such leadings, nor should it. be judged exclusively by aesthetic criteria. I have intentionally left many questions open for more mature consideration, at some future time, when I can give to them more thought than was possible in the year's study which I have devoted to play phenomena.

Kael Geoos.

Contents

Editor's Preface .

Author's Preface ....

The System of Plat— Introduction

PAGE

iii

T

Part I Playful Experimentation ^

I. Playful Activity of the Sensory Apparatus . . 7

1. Sensations of contact 7

2. Sensations of temperature 14

3. Sensations of taste 14

4. Sensations of smell 16

5. Sensations of hearing 18

(a) Eeceptive sound-play ...... 19

6. Sensations of sight 48

(a) Sensations of brightness 50

(6) The perception of colour 54

(c) Perception of form ...... 60

{3) Perception of movement 67

II. Playful Use of the Motor Apparatus ... 74

A. Playful movement of the bodily organs . . . 75

B. Playful movement of foreign bodies ... 95

1. Hustling things about P5

3. liestructive (analytic) movement-play . . 97

3. Constructive (synthetic) movement-play . . 09

4, Playful exercise of endurance .... 101 viii THE PLAY OF MAN

PASS

5. Throwing plays 103

(a) Simple throwing 105

(&) Throwing with the help of a stroke or

blow . 107

(c) Rolling, spinning, shoving, and skipping

foreign bodies 110

(d) Throwing at a mark .... 114

6. Catching . . 118

III. Platfdl Use of the Higher Mental Powers . . 131

A. Experimentation with the mental powers , . 123

1. Memory 133

(a) Recognition 133

(6) Reflective memory 138

2. Imagination 131

(a) Playful illusion 131

(6) Playful transformation of the memory-content 135

4. Reason 153

B. Experimentation with the feelings .... 158

1. Physical pain 159

3. Mental suffering 160

3. Surprise 163

C. Experimentation with the will .... 169

PAET II

TETE PLAYFUL EXERCISE OF IMPULSES OF TEE SECOND OB SO CIO NO MIC ORDER

I. Fighting- Play 173

3. Physical rivalry 197

5. The destructive impulse 217

7. Enjoyment of the comic 233

8. Hunting play 237

9. Witnessing fights and fighting plays. The tragic . 344

CONTENTS ix

PAOS

II. Love Plat 352

1. Natural courtship play 2o4

2. Love play in art 368

3. Sex in the comic 378

III. Imitative Play 380

1. Playful imitation of simple movements . . , 391

(a) Optical percepts 291

(5) Playful imitation of acoustic percepts . . 394

[3. Plastic or constructive imitative play . . . 318

IV. Social Plat 384

PAET III

TSE TEEOBT OF PLAT

1. The physiological standpoint ....•! 361

4. The aesthetic standpoint 389

5. The sociological standpoint 395

6. The pedagogical standpoint 398

Index 407

THE SYSTEM OF PLAT