The Philosophy of Play as Life

Wendy Russell is a senior lecturer in Play and Playwork at the University of Gloucestershire, UK and a consultant on children’s play and playwork. Together with Emily Ryall and Malcolm MacLean, she is a co-founder of the biennial Philosophy at Play conferences. Key publications include, co-authored with Stuart Lester, Play for a Change (2008) and Children's Right to Play (2010). She co-edited The Philosophy of Play (2013) and Philosophical Perspectives on Play (2016) with Emily Ryall and Malcolm MacLean, and Practice-based Research on Children’s Play (2017) with Stuart Lester and Hilary Smith. She is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Play. Emily Ryall is a senior lecturer in the Philosophy of Sport and Exercise at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. She is author of Philosophy of Sport: Key Questions and Critical Thinking for Sports Students, as well as editing author of Philosophy of Play and Philosophical Perspectives on Play. She is associate editor for the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport and former chair of the British Philosophy of Sport Association. Her website is emilyryall.net and her Twitter handle is @emilyryall. Malcolm MacLean is a reader in the Culture and History of Sport at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. He has previously taught history in New Zealand, and worked as a policy analyst and historian in the New Zealand Ministry of Justice. His publications deal with cultural boycotts and sports-related anti-apartheid protests, the cultural politics of settlement colonies and discourses of indigeneity associated with sport, body, and movement cultures. Malcolm is actively involved in international sports studies networks and was Chair of the British Society of Sports History. He is an editor with Wendy Russell and Emily Ryall of Philosophy of Play (Routledge, 2013) and Philosophical Perspectives on Play (Routledge, 2016).

Introduction Part 1: Play as Life 1. Bringing Play to Life and Life to Play: A Vitalist Line of Enquiry 2. Play as Portal to Awakening in the Blithesome Wanderings of Chuang Tzu 3. Life-as-play from East to West: A Comparative Analysis of Play in Aurobindo and Schlick 4. Playing in the Web: New Babylon and the Internet Part 2: Play as Games 5. Five Millennia of Player Practices 6. On the Relationship Between Philosophy and Game-Playing 7. Gags and Games: Wittgenstein and His Relation to Jokes Part 3: Play as Art 8. Staying with the In-Between: Arts Practice as a Form of Thinking about Play and Everyday Encounters in a Public Square 9. The Role of Competition in Musical Play 10. The Ambiguity of Reality: Towards an Awareness of the Significant Role of Play in Higher Arts 11. Art as Play: A Philosophical Comparison of Adults’ and Children’s Art 12. The Artwork as a Perpetual Re-enactment Part 4: Play as Politics 13. The Flow of Play Among Toddlers in Kindergarten 14. Between Utopia and Arcadia: How the Playground Epitomizes Visions of Play, Childhood and Societal Longings 15. Play Against Alienation? 16. Playing Your Self: Modern Rhetorics of Play and Subjectivity