The Oasis of Happiness: Toward an Ontology of Play

Fink, Eugen; Saine, Ute; Saine, Thomas P.

doi:10.2307/2929663

Cited by 103 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…Again, it is only to the extent that it can use these facts as the ground for the explication of what it means to be an object, a segment of reality, in order for us to have experience of it. This differentiation can be seen accurately in the examples of the analyzes of the play by Huizinga (1955) and Fink (1960Fink ( , 1968, who respectively adopt more empirically and meaning-oriented analysis of the phenomenon.…”

Section: Phenomenology Is Not Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

Phenomenology is not Phenomenalism. Is there such a thing as phenomenology of sport?

Halák¹,

Jirásek²,

Nesti³

2014

Acta Gymnica

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Background:The application of the philosophical mode of investigation called "phenomenology" in the context of sport. Objective: The goal is to show how and why the phenomenological method is very often misused in the sportrelated research. Methods: Interpretation of the key texts, explanation of their meaning. Results: The confrontation of concrete sport-related texts with the original meaning of the key phenomenological notions shows mainly three types of misuse -the confusion of phenomenology with immediacy, with an epistemologically subjectivist stance (phenomenalism), and with empirical research oriented towards objects in the world. Conclusions: Many of the discussed authors try to take over the epistemological validity of phenomenology for their research, which itself is not phenomenological, and it seems that this is because they lack such a methodological foundation. The authors believe that an authentically phenomenological analysis of sport is possible, but it must respect the fundamental distinctions that differentiate phenomenology from other styles of thinking.Keywords: philosophy of sport, phenomenology, phenomenalism meaning could be modified depending on the authors' actual goal. This situation is, of course, unsatisfactory and ultimately unacceptable. The purpose of this paper is thus to clarify the reasons for which, in our opinion, there is a frequent substantial loss of the meaning -and the value -of phenomenology as it is misinterpreted in sport related research.We would like to sketch a brief critical overview of a number of representatively chosen, mostly sportresearch related texts which have the ambition to call themselves "phenomenological". We shall demonstrate how the misunderstanding of some of the key distinctions introduced by phenomenological philosophy often brings the authors to even epistemologically inconsistent assertions. These may be interesting from some points of view, but can in no way obtain objective scientific validity in the way the authors wish, i.e. simply by being labeled phenomenology.As the phenomenology is a discipline stemming from a particular historical context, its fundamental meaning is clearly defined in contrast to certain epistemological and ontological positions. Phenomenology fights especially against two ultimately inconsequent ways of thinking -first, skepticism and psychologism; and second, naive objective realism. The key problem with the majority of sport-research appropriations of

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Section: Phenomenology Is Not Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

Phenomenology is not Phenomenalism. Is there such a thing as phenomenology of sport?

Halák¹,

Jirásek²,

Nesti³

2014

Acta Gymnica

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“…I must admit that no self-evident answer comes readily to my mind -aside maybe from scientific research itself, philosophy included, although this mainly depends on the way in which research is conceived and realized. Hence, it is all the more worrying to notice that a field of experience such as play, which has always been identified as a privileged space of individual freedom (Huizinga, 1949;Bateson, 1956;Caillois, 1961;Hutt, 1966;Vygotskij, 1976;Garvey, 1977;Sutton-Smith, 1997) and even an 'oasis of happiness' (Fink, 1968), turns out to be only half exploited by adult players.…”

Section: Playing By and With The Rules: Refining The Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 98%

Playing By and With the Rules: Norms and Morality in Play Development

Paglieri

2005

Topoi

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In this article, Piaget's theory of moral development in play behaviour is critically reviewed and framed within the philosophical debate on morality. On this basis, an alternative socio-cognitive model for describing normative evolution in play development is proposed. Special attention is paid to the transition from children's play to adult games, for the purpose of demonstrating that some relevant features of morality stagnate, rather than progress, during such transition. Finally, some speculations are offered on the connection between moral involution in play and ethical behaviour in life, with reference to contemporary Western societies.

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“…But play has its own logic that does not coincide with the logic of the world. And that is why, according to Fink (1968), play reminds us that our perception of everyday objects is relative and fragmental. Play is characterized by autonomous, self-sufficient meaning that develops outside of the utility of the everyday.…”

Section: Player's Role In Playmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Be present, be involved, be true to oneself. Fink (1968) calls play an oasis of happiness. Happiness arises from the very fact that play time does not pursue any specific happiness.…”

Section: Praise Of Inutilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

On Creativity, Inutility and Play

Pirklová¹

2017

Creativity. Theories – Research - Applications

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The article deals with the topic of play as the background for creativity. Methodologically, the study is based on a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. This means we do not base our questions on predefined terms, but rather aim to search for them. Thus, in pursuit of questioning the phenomenon of creativity, we explore other phenomena -play, education (paideia) and utility (pragma). To picture the relationships between these phenomena we borrow two symbolic figures -Socrates and Pippi Longstocking. Socrates appears here as the symbol of wondering and the antidote to all false sophistication (and thus true education), and Pippi as the exemplar par excellence of free, joyous and thoroughly inutile play. In the article we aim to expose the inutile and creative character of play as its greatest benefit. Our line of questioning follows the traditions of Czech philosophy of education, represented by Jan Patočka.

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The Oasis of Happiness: Toward an Ontology of Play

Cited by 103 publications

References 0 publications

Phenomenology is not Phenomenalism. Is there such a thing as phenomenology of sport?

Phenomenology is not Phenomenalism. Is there such a thing as phenomenology of sport?

Playing By and With the Rules: Norms and Morality in Play Development

On Creativity, Inutility and Play

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