Die evolutionäre Bedeutung des Spiels

Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus 2014, 2014, P.185-218 | DOI: 10.18756/jfg.2014.185

Abstract:

The evolutionary significance of play

Human and animal play is both a fascinating and puzzling phenomenon. Its origin and function cannot be conclusively explained within conventional evolutionary theory. However, nowadays there exist extensive accounts and scientific descriptions that can provide us with a wealth of well documented material. This article gives a brief overview of play in various animal groups. Then it develops the thesis that play logically follows the autonomy theory of evolution and therefore can be explained in evolutionary biological terms. It is both phylogenetically and ontogenetically an important element in the creativity of human beings‚ and, possibly over and above that, in the whole of evolution.

References

  • AZÉMA, M. (2011): La préhistoire du cinéma. Edition errance, Paris
  • BANGERT, M., ALTENMÜLLER, E. 0. (2003): Mapping perception to action in piano practice: a longitudinal DC-EEG study. BMC Neurosience 4: 26 (www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/4/26)
  • BATESON, P., MARTIN, P. (2013): Play, playfulness, creativity and innovation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
  • BEKOFF, M., BYERS, J. A. (Eds.) (1998): Animal Play. Evolutionary, Comparative and Ecological Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
  • BROWN, S., VAUGHAN, C. (2011): Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Penguin, London
  • BURGHARDT, G. (2005): The Genesis of Animal Play. Testing the Limits. Bradford Books, Cambridge, MA
  • BURGHARDT, G. M. (1998): The evolutionary origins of play revisited: lessons from turtles. In: Bekoff, M., Byers,j. A. (Eds.): Animal Play. Evolutionary, Comparative and Ecological Perspectives, pp. 1-26. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
  • CARRUTHERS, P. (2002): Human creativity: its cognitive basis, its evolution and its connections with childhood pretense. British journal for the Philosophy of Science 53: 225-249
  • CASEY, B. J., GIEDD, J. N.,THOMAS, K. M. (2000): Structural and functional brain development and its relation to cognitive development. Biological Psychology 54: 241-257
  • COOLIDGE, F. I., WYNN, T. (2005): Working memory, its executive functions, and the emergence of modern thinking. Cambridge Archacological Journal 15: 5-26
  • EIBL-EIBESFELDT, J. (1999): Grundriß der vergleichenden Verhaltensforschung. Piper, München, Zürich
  • FAGEN, R. (1981): Animal Play Behaviour. Oxford University Press, Oxford
  • FAGEN, R. (1986): Play and behavioural flexibility. In: Smith, P. K. (Ed.): Play in Animals and Humans, pp. 159-173. Blackwell Oxford
  • FUCHS, T. (2009): Das Gehirn — ein Beziehungsorgan. Eine phänomenologisch-ökologische Konzeption. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart
  • GÄRDENFORS, P. (2003): How Homo Became Sapiens: On the Evolution of Thinking. Oxford University Press, Oxford
  • GASCHKE, S. (2011): Die Verkürzung der Kindheit. Vor lauter Konsum und Kommunikation schrumpft die Zeit für freies Spiel und ungestörte Entfaltung — eine Empörung. Die Zeit Online, 8. September 2011. www.zeit.de/2011/37/Kindheit
  • GERHART, J., KIRSCHNER, M. (1997): Cells, Embryos, and Evolution. Toward a Cellular and Developmental Understanding of Phenotypic Variation and Evolutionary Adaptability. Blackwell, Malden MA
  • GILBERT, S. E (2002): Genetic determinism: the battle between scientific data and social image in contemporary developmental biology. In: Grunwald, A., Gutmann, M., Neumann-Held, E. M. (Eds.): On Human Nature. Anthropological, Biologieal, and Philosophical Foundations, pp. 121-140. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York
  • GOETHE‚ J. W. (1794): Inwiefern die Idee: Schönheit sei Vollkommenheit mit Freiheit, auf organische Naturen angewendet werden könne. Hamburger Ausgabe, Band 13: Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften 1. Beck, München (1981)
  • GRAY, P. (2011): The decline of play and the rise of psychopathology in children and adolescents. American Journal of Play 3: 443-463
  • GRAY, P. (2013): Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play will Make our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books, New York
  • GUNZ, P., NEUBAUER, S., MAUREILLE, B., HUBLIN, J. J. (2010): Brain development after birth differs between Neanderth als and modern humans. Current Biology 20(21): R921-R922
  • HASSENSTEIN, B. (1969): Aspekte der »Freiheit« im Verhalten von Tieren. Universitas 24: 1325-1330
  • HERHOLZ, S., ZATORRE, R. (2012): Musical training as a framework for brain plasticity: behavior, function, and structure. Neuron 76(3): 486-502
  • HUIZINGA, J. (1939): Homo ludens. Vom Ursprung der Kultur im Spiel. Rowohlt, Hamburg (2009)
  • ISAACSON,W (2010): Einstein. Genie und Popstar. Bucher Verlag, München
  • KIPP, F. A. (1980): Die Evolution des Menschen im Hinblick auf seine lange Jugendzeit. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart
  • KUBA, M. J., BYRNE, R. A., MEISEL, D. V., MATHER, J. A. (2006): When do octopuses play? Effects of repcatcd testing, object type, age, and food deprivation on object play in Octopus vulgaris. Journal of Comparative Psychology 120(3): 184-190
  • LIU, X., SOMEL, M., TANG, L. & al. (2012): Extension of cortical synaptic development distinguishes humans from chimpanzees and macaques. Genome Research 22(4): 611-622
  • LORENZ‚ K. (1935): Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels. Journal für Ornithologie 83(2-3): 137-215, 289-413
  • MATUSCHEK, S. (Hrsg.) (2009): Friedrich Schiller: Uber die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt
  • MAYR, E. (1988): Toward a new philosophy of biology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
  • MCSHEA, D. W., BRANDON, R. N. (2010): Biology's first law: The tendency for diversity and complexity to increase in evolutionary systems. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
  • NEUBAUER, S., HUBLIN, J. J. (2012): The evolution of human brain development evolutionary biology Evolutionary Biology 39(4): 568-586
  • NEUBERT, F. X., MARS, R. B., THOMAS. A. G. & al. (2014): Comparison of human ventral frontal cortex areas for cognitive control and language with areas in monkey frontal cortex. Neuron 81(3): 700-713
  • NEUWEILER, G. (2006): Die dynamische Synapse. Ein nüchterner Beitrag zur Diskussion um das Thema Willensfreiheit. Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau 59: 641-650
  • NEUWEILER, G. (2008): Und wir sind es doch — die Krone der Evolution. Wagenbach, Berlin
  • NIETZSCHE, E (1886): Jenseits von Gut und Böse. Reclam, Stuttgart (1988)
  • NOWELL., A. (2014): Childhood, play and the evolution of cultural capacity in Neandertals and modern humans. In: Haidlc, M., Conard, N., Bolus, M. (Hrsg.): The Nature of Culture. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. Springer (in print)
  • PELLIS, S., PELLIS, V. (2009): The playful brain: Venturing to the limits of neuroscience. Oneworld Publications, Oxford
  • PIGLIUCCI, M., MÜLLER, G. (2010): Evolution — the Extended Synthesis. MIT Press, Cambridge MA
  • RICKARD, N. S., MCFERRAN, K. (2012): Lifelong Engagement With Music. Benefits for Mental Health and Well-Being. Nova Science Publishers NY
  • ROBSON, D. (2013): Old schooled: You never stop learning like a child. New Scientist 2918: 20-24
  • ROSSLENBROICH, B. (2006): Zur Autonomieentstehung in der Evolution - Eine Übersicht. Tycho de Brahe Jahrbuch 2006: 157-200. Tycho Brahe-Verlag, Niefern-Öschelbronn
  • ROSSLENBROICH, B. (2007): Autonomiezunahme als Modus der Makroevolution. Galunder Verlag, Nürnbrecht
  • ROSSLENBROICH, B. (2012): Die Biologie der Freiheit. die Drei 10/2012: 15-35
  • ROSSLENBROICH, B. (2014): On the Origin of Autonomy. A New Look at the Major Transitions in Evolution. Springer, Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London.
  • ROSSLENBROICH, B., HEUSSER, P. (2010): Entwurf einer organismischen Systembiologie. Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus 2010: 7-39. Tycho Brahe-Verlag, Niefern-Öschelbronn
  • ROSSLENBROICH, M., ROSSLENBROICH, B. (2012): Die französisch—spanische Höhlenkunst — Wiege der Autonomie des menschlichen Bewusstseins. die Drei 11/2012: 25-41
  • SCHAD, W. (1982): Biologisches Denken. In: Schad, W. (Hrsg.): Goetheanistische Naturwissenschaft Bd. 1 (Allgemeine Biologie), S. 9-25. Stuttgart
  • SHAPIRO, J. A. (2011): Evolution: A View from the 21st Century FT Press Science, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
  • SMITH, P. K. (2010): Children and Play: Understanding Children's Worlds. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden MA
  • STREFFER, W. (2009): Klangsphären. Motive der Autonomie im Gesang der Vögel. Stuttgart
  • TOMASELLO, M. (2009): Why we cooperate. MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, London
  • WEST-EBERHARD, M. J. (2003): Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford
  • WIESER, W. (1998): Die Erfindung der Individualität oder Die zwei Gesichter der Evolution. Spektrum, Heidelberg, Berlin