About the author
I don't know anything about the author. Like a psychiatrist. Born in 1926, he was 73 years old at the time. If he is still alive today, he would be 97 years old.
110 yen at a used bookstore. I just finished reading "Homo Ludens", so I bought it without thinking.
This is a reconsideration of the concept of "Homo Ludens (Player)" rather than a "reconsideration" of Homo Ludens by Huizinga (the author reads "Huijingha" in Dutch). In terms of content, it seems to be closer to Caillois's "play and man" reconsideration.
Huisinha defines play as following rules, freely within them, toward a goal, and enjoying tension and pleasure. Caillois further expands this definition of huizinha, adding bets and chance pleasures, and classifies play into four categories: ``play of competition'', ``play of chance (bet)'', ``simulation play'', and ``play of dizziness''. LF) ``Competitive play'' is a game of winning or losing against others, ``Opportunity play'' is a chance game such as gambling or lottery, ``Simulation play'' is a mask, camouflage, or dress-up game, and ``Vertigo'' is a spinning game such as skiing or skating. (P.6)
This is a concise and easy-to-understand summary of "Homo Ludens" and "Play and Humans".
Based on Kaiyois's classification of play, the author writes various things about the Japanese language and culture, sometimes critically, in an essay style.
Work is only a part of real life, but dreams and play cover it all. Dreams are older than reality, play is older than work. (P.8)
I think this is the author's perception of "play".
Children and play
The author seems to think of the word "work" as a companion to play. There are many similar pairs of words, such as "work and play," "serious and unserious," and "hare and ke." There are various ways to say that "Work is an adult, play is a child" and "Children are geniuses of play".
Play is always exciting, even for adults who are tired of everyday life. A mind without play gradually dilutes the power of life and eventually solidifies. Play is the vitality of the mind. This is because play is a pure and free resounding of the natural earth, water, fire and wind and the own earth, water, fire and wind. A mind that does not know play will gradually fall into neurotic depletion. (P.5)
This is a very psychiatric word. Huizinga is
To truly play, one must become a child again. ("Homo Ludens" translated by Hideo Takahashi, Chuko Bunko, p.402)
When I, and perhaps the author, think of "play," I think of my childhood, a time when there were no jobs, no video games, or even television. I don't come from a farm, but I grew up in a small town with unpaved roads and vacant lots. Weeds grew there, and there were all kinds of insects. Each piece of grass and each insect was a plaything. There were marbles and menko, but for children living in poor tenements, stones and picked up nails were more important playthings.
By giving children expensive machines and virtual images that encourage violence and destruction, we are damaging their free and flexible world of mind. But don't forget. Children can see the whole imaginary world in a single stone, nut or shell they pick up, and that is the origin of play. (P.8)
Even if they have things, they don't ask for help. The more you use old playground equipment, the more you get used to it and the more difficult it becomes to throw it away, but today's electronic equipment is nothing more than junk once it breaks down. (P.10)
As a criticism of modern civilization, it is still the same word as it was 20 years ago. Dada Huizinga also said:
A child at play is never childish. Children only become childish when play bored them, or when they didn't know how to play. (Ibid., p.417)
I think Huizinga's view of play is reflected here. Huizinga doesn't think of play as 'leisure to work'.
Play and Culture
It's easy to think that "work" exists in every culture and every era. Applying this to animals, we end up thinking that collecting nectar is a job for bees, and that a lion is catching an antelope as the primordial form of work. I work every day and vent my 'daily life' with a few festivals a year. Drinking, watching sports, playing pachinko after work every day. I think it's the culture. Play is created within each culture, or thinks of play from culture. But Huizinga is different. It is not culture that creates play, but that culture is born in play.
After all, this play is the foundation of all culture itself. (Ibid., p.214)
That's why humans are called "Homo Ludens". Furthermore,
Culture does not begin with play, nor does it begin with play. It begins in play. (Ibid., P.165)
"It is not 'play that becomes culture'" and "Culture is established in the form of play, and culture is something that is played from the beginning" (P.110). So
we said at the outset that play itself is outside the realm of moral norms. It is neither good nor bad in itself. (Ibid., P.431)
Cultural things such as science, law, philosophy, morality, and ethics exist only in "play," and "play" transcends them. Therefore, play is “human being itself (Homo Ludens)”.
Cailova tried to categorize and define Huizinga's "play" (I've only read half of it, but maybe). He tried to reduce "play" to learning. The essence of "asobi" lies in places that cannot be categorized or defined. It cannot be categorized or defined because it is tied to existence (human existence). Rather, it is "existence itself" (φύσις physis, nature). Caillois tried to capture it as "nomos" (νόμος). I think he tried to capture play within culture. When you try to capture nature from the human side, the "human" is always reflected there. Some people think that collecting nectar is also a job for bees.
"Humans only laugh at humans". These are the words of Bergson, a philosopher who studied "laughter". (Omitted) Humans laugh at monkeys. It's not that monkeys are funny, it's that monkeys are funny because they behave, look and look exactly like humans. (P.166)
Words and Characters
It is said that humans think in language (not only spoken languages such as Japanese and English, but also sign language, etc.). Rather, it may be better to call thinking in language. If you think about it for a moment, you will understand that we are limited in thinking about situations in languages (for example, Japanese). I think it's better to say almost none. When I hear something, I turn around, when something moves, I look at it, when I scratch my head because it's itchy... It's almost impossible to verbalize these things and think about them. Even if you do verbalize it, it is when you reflect on the actions you have taken. "I turned around because someone called me," "I thought something was moving," and "Oh, it's itchy." And I always feel like I'm "thinking" in Japanese (because I only know Japanese).
And those languages will disappear from time to time. It is a necessary work to fix a certain "event". In addition,
Words, written as letters, take on different properties than spoken words alone. Visualized in the form of letters, language becomes a more powerful tool for expression and communication. The voice is transient and does not return once it disappears, but the letters can be read any number of times. Voices cannot be divided, but letters can be cut. Voices cannot be stacked, but letters can be stacked. Voices cannot be saved, but letters can be saved forever. Voices are hard to carry, but letters are easy to carry. The voice is uncertain, but the letters have a definite shape. However, in terms of depth and temporality, it is undeniable that letters are inferior to spoken language, and have become superficial and spatial.
For example, words (spoken language) are like water and letters are like ice. (P.106-107)
I'm sure it's the other way around. Letters fix words, words capture ideas. Words are older than letters, and ideas (feelings) are older than words. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that “letters define language,” “culture defines language,” “culture defines play,” or “humans created gods (nature, physis),” and I think such ideas are necessary. It can be said that they are related to each other, and it can be said that they cannot be separated at all.
Western culture is a culture that aims to "divide (classify)" it. Suppose we divide "play" into four categories, as Caillois did. Then, each individual "play" can belong to one of them. This makes me feel like I understand what "play" is. But things aren't so simple, and even Caillois gets lost. The next thing to do in Western culture is to consider the four relationships. A certain play has elements of both "play of competition" and "play of opportunity", but which element is stronger. It is similar to thinking about the three primary colors of light (red, blue, green, or even the three primary colors of paint), and assigning a specific place such as "reddish blue" to the color of the next flower. It is clear (usually) which is older, the flower or the colors red, blue and green. However, the idea that the "three primary colors of light" existed "universally" before the real flower is "theory of ideas", and the Bible says "in the beginning there was a word". "Man is laughing at monkey."
Video games
When everyone thinks that play is defined by culture, Huizinga said that culture is made of play. I don't know if this can be called a "Copernican inversion," but it turns the subject and predicate upside down. And, although I don't think Huizinga made it clearer than that, I think he thought that the subject of "play" goes beyond definition (culture).
Caillois tried to bring it back into the definition, the culture. As a result, Huizinga loses its epoch-making quality. I called it "dwarfing". After Caillois, various "play studies" must have appeared. However, I don't think it goes beyond the realm of "refinement" and "diversification" in the classification and definition that scholars, cultural figures, do. If that itself is "play", then that's fine.
I don't think it's "meaningless" per se either. The author thinks in the (scientific) culture of a psychiatrist, but I can understand his concern about the present age and his desire to help people living in the present age, especially children.
However, because video game machines are not silent and expressionless, they respond and respond to the gamer, so the gamer feels as if he or she is dealing with a human being, and seems to develop an attachment to the machine. However, it can be said that it distances itself from the real human being by that much. In that respect, there is a great possibility that technostress symptoms such as "misanthropy" and "dehumanization of humans" will occur in high technology in general. Playing with machines becomes good, but interacting with humans becomes cumbersome and frustrating. (P.216)
The mind is a person who has lost the freedom of mind due to being poisoned by a machine. For those of you who are obsessed with e-mail and the Internet, please be very careful.
As Zhuangzi said, machines unknowingly dehumanize humans. This means that human beings can be easily materialized and commercialized. (P.218)
Everyone should be fully aware that this kind of mechanical play will be the most dangerous of all dangerous games. (P.218-219)
I have two children (both of whom are already working adults). I let my older children play with computers from an early age. That leads me to my current job. My younger child also went to a science university and got a job related to that, but anyway, I play games every day. Both are my influences. I myself like computers, and I used to make games in the early days of personal computers, so I understand how you feel. My life stands strong as an undeniable fact. But you can reflect on it.
Nowadays, I can't imagine life without electricity. Still, I have faint memories of my childhood when there was no electricity, so I don't think I can live with that. But I don't think the children would be able to live there. Computers are everywhere in the house. AI (I don't know how far the word "AI" is defined) is also becoming a part of our lives. At that time, the idea that "electric machines made humans" and "AI made humans" may no longer feel uncomfortable. In fact, hundreds of years ago in the West (some people still believe) that "God made man", didn't he?
Whether you think that ``culture created (regulates) play'' or ``play created culture'' is a matter of debate. Huizinga's question is that 'play' and 'culture' are on completely different levels. Culture should be defined, classified, and analyzed within culture (science and learning). But "play" is not. It is “neither good nor bad” (Huizinga, supra), and transcends cultural values such as right and wrong, ethics and morality.
Similarly to the question "What is a human being?", it is possible to give a wide variety of answers "scholarly" to the question "What is play?" But those answers are, in Heidegger's terms, answers to "existence." The answer to "human beings" and "play" as "existence" may be impossible, as long as we have to think about it in culture or in human consciousness. Putting aside the question of whether it is impossible or not, we must be aware of the fact that there is such a difference in questions, even though we are forced to exist within culture, learning, consciousness, and beings.
Puddle
Recently, information programs have been reporting (without a break) that strange incidents are happening in quick succession. There are too many strange incidents to remember (and there are almost no follow-up reports). There has been a lot of talk about heavy rains lately, but when it rains a lot, rivers immediately overflow, landslides occur, and roads are submerged. What was the "public project" carried out in Japan led by Kakuei Tanaka? It started to rain today, and there was a news report that there were puddles on the roads in Tokyo. Why is it national news when it rains and there are 'puddles'? Starting with the war between Russia and Ukraine, there are so many things to worry about.
To be able to handle everyday affairs to your heart's content, and to be able to live without being particular, that is true supernatural power. That is also what it means to play. (P.224)
I can't stand in such a situation as I'm angry because I'm worried about every piece of news on information programs. That's why I don't think it's okay to ignore them. I feel like every piece of news has a hint as to why we can't enjoy life in Japan today. "What is play?", "What is a human being?"... There is no doubt that Huizinga, Kaiyois, the author, and I are standing in a society where we are forced to think about these questions, even if there is no answer.