Play and Spiel are not the Same: Anti-Wittgensteinian Arguments and Consideration of Game as a Kind of Human Play

Abstract

The differences between categories of play in English and spiel in German (or jeu in French and so on) are essential because any complex ludic category includes games that are organized and restricted by roles and rules. My choice to deal with Wittgensteinian views of spiel (which is translated by default as ‘play’) is influenced by the fact that his argument in German about the impossibility and futility of a philosophical definition of spiel embodies the quintessence of the problem: the linguistic obstacle that prevents correct interpretation of human play. Methodologically, I make the philosophical question of dependence a linguistic one. The article concludes by defending the position that game is only one of the diverse activities realizing human play, which is a basic existential phenomenon that can be considered philosophically through the category of ‘other being’.

The Evolution of Playfulness, Play and Play-Like Phenomena in Relation to Sexual Selection

“…We argue that there is enough robust evidence to support the existence of these mechanisms (Caillois, 1958(Caillois, /2001Scott and Godbey, 1992;Walther, 2003;Conway, 2010;Argento et al, 2017;Zosh et al, 2018;Lebed, 2021). What is needed is a good theory to avoid the "theory crisis" (Eronen and Bringmann, 2021).…”

“…For instance, Huizinga (1938Huizinga ( /1980 and Caillois (1958Caillois ( /2001 state that the study of play (or "games" depending on the translation) should include music, theater (role-playing), lottery, philosophy, religion, roller-coaster riding, alcohol drinking, among others. Caillois' French jeu and Huizinga's Dutch spel are neither equivalent to English play nor game-neither to the Portuguese brincar nor jogar, respectively (Lebed, 2021). Some languages have only words for a general concept applicable to anything pleasurable, entertaining and autotelic (e.g., Czech, French, German), what we will call "playfulness" henceforward, while other languages make distinctions about different kinds of "play" (e.g., English, Japanese, Portuguese) (Lebed, 2021).…”

“…Caillois' French jeu and Huizinga's Dutch spel are neither equivalent to English play nor game-neither to the Portuguese brincar nor jogar, respectively (Lebed, 2021). Some languages have only words for a general concept applicable to anything pleasurable, entertaining and autotelic (e.g., Czech, French, German), what we will call "playfulness" henceforward, while other languages make distinctions about different kinds of "play" (e.g., English, Japanese, Portuguese) (Lebed, 2021).…”

“…Depending on epistemological or linguistic differences, "play" can mean either a behavior or a psychological disposition (Sutton-Smith, 2001;Weisfeld and Weisfeld, 2016;Lebed, 2021). Similarly, it can refer to several playful activities.…”

“…Therefore, a behavior can be considered "play" when is activated the playfulness capacity which generates a playful state of mind. This playfulness state is usually not explicit in definitions of "game, " and some argue it is not even necessary (e.g., Lebed, 2021), but the rules and outcomes are reframing the conflicts to turn them interesting, and hopefully fun. That means that playfulness can exist even in non-joyful and serious activities (cf.…”