Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in CultureRare Treasure Editions - Social Science In "Homo Ludens," the classic evaluation of play that has become a "must-read" for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of "Homo Ludens," or "Man the player" through Medieval Times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization. Huizinga defines play against a rich theoretical background, using cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics. "Homo Ludens" defines play for generations to come. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
18th century aesthetic agon agonistic ancient animal answer archaic culture Aristotle Baroque battle ceremonial characteristics of play Chinese civilization combat competition conception connection contest dancing duel Dutch earnest element English expression fact feast festival forms of play function German Germanic languages Greek Gylfaginning hence holy honour human idea ideal instance judgement judicial duel justice King koani Langobards languages literary literature magic Mahābhārata means mediaeval mind modern myth Nāgasena nature noble Old Frisian Old Norse origin performance personification philosophy plastic Plato play and seriousness play-character play-concept play-element play-factor play-forms play-function play-quality play-sphere play-spirit player playful poetic poetry political potlatch primitive pure play purely question religion religious riddle Rig-veda ritual Rococo Roman Romanticism rules sacred savage semantic sense significance Skáldskaparmál social society songs sophist sphere spirit sport theme things tribe virtue Werner Jaeger whole winning wisdom word play παιζιά