Intrinsic value and play

This dissertation is primarily concerned with the question of what it means to be human. In answering the question, two levels of response are noted. First, man is extrinsically human as he has specific properties which distinguish him from other objects of his environment; he is Homo Sapien, and not a horse, a tree, or a circus - all of which have their own specific, defining properties. Man is also extrinsically human as he is defined in terms of some deterministically enforced role or function by his society. In this second instance, he is Homo Faber, "man the worker," caught in the midst of a de-volution into Homo Fabricatus, "man the artifact" - a cog in the machine.

A second level of response to the question of human being is that man is intrinsically human. On this level he has an "authentic existence" which is involved in an interplay and creative dialogue with his present environment, his fellows, and his past traditions. The paradigm of intrinsic human being is the playing child who has achieved a natural reciprocity with his world. In the maturation of this paradigm, the authentic human can be compared to the creative artist; human being is seen in terms of a person becoming a "virtuoso at living." Beyond these levels of definition, a guiding presupposition of the discussion is that most people exist on the extrinsic level. This may be because they have simply not developed all of their human potentials -- perhaps they do not know how. More than likely, it is proposed that they have been prohibited in this development by the fragmenting emphasis on reason and the rational nature advanced by the technological society. To be fully human is to understand oneself in terms of a "whole" which includes Being itself, and to have "whole-experiences," rather than to understand oneself as a body, a soul, or a mind. The leading question of the dissertation is modified to the point of asking how authentic, intrinsic human being can be achieved.

It is then suggested that authentic human being is directly related to an individual's ability to intrinsically value. The first chapter attempts to define intrinsic valuation, and discusses its possibilities. Again, the paradigms are the creative artist and the child as he plays. The relationship of authentic human existence and play provides a point of contact between a philosophical issue, the question of human being, and a primary concern of Homo Faber. Throughout the next two chapters, which complete the first section of the dissertation, the idea of play is encountered. The discussion begins with the ideas of Huizinga, and moves through a discussion of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Fink. The idea of Homo Ludens or Anthropaidian, "man the player," is introduced, along with a non-competitive level of play, paidia, which is then seen as being synonymous with intrinsic valuation andauthentic human experience. Finally, a self-understanding of man as part of the "play of Being" is developed. The third chapter is the key chapter of the entire dissertation.

In the second section, which is constituted by chapters four through nine, the central discussion of the first section is expanded and substantiated by reference to the idea of play in the work of several other thinkers. The understanding of play as it relates to Plato and Schiller should already be well-known, but the idea as it relates to Nietzsche, Sartre, and Whitehead should not only add to the distinctions of the dissertation, but should also give a new perspective on each of these individual philosophies. In each instance, it is suggested that the idea of play is a formidable concern of their work. The second section is then concluded with an investigation of the poetry of Wallace Stevens. This reference is highly suitable for inclusion in the dissertation at this point for several reasons. It cogently synthesizes the ideas of intrinsic valuation, artistic creativity, and play, and develops the idea of the importance of the imagination as man's intrinsic valuing capacity. It also serves as a mediating example of this sort of activity, and constitutes a movement into an area where philosophy and poetry, ethics and aesthetics begin to coalesce; the merger into an area of authentic human experience and expression like this is discussed throughout the dissertation.

Finally, the dissertation is brought to a close in a section of conclusions which are represented by the final three chapters. A rigorous attempt is made to bring the philosophical concerns to a level understandable by modern man. It is felt that the area of play offers the best alternative for relating modern man to intrinsic value experiences, and the implications of the dissertation are thus discussed in terms of man's work and his interest in contemporary athletics.

Man may continue to exist extrinsically without hindrance for as long as his technological genius can sustain him. However, intrinsic human existence is severely threatened in the present age by man's own inventions. The greatest threat of all is not that he will destroy himself with a nuclear weapon or by an ecological disaster, but that he will turn himself into a function, a "thing." Any hope for

own "Self" as he is imaginatively creative - as he plays. intrinsically value, and to intrinsically experience and create his authentic human existence is contingent upon man's ability to learn to