Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan, Transcend Art and Peace
Created: October 30, 2001
Latest Update: October 30, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

The Importance of Play to the Emergent Self

Review and Essay by Jeanne Curran, Susan R. Takata, and Olivier Urbain
Copyright: Jeanne Curran, Susan R. Takata, and Olivier Urbain: October 2001.
and Individual Authors. "Fair Use" encouraged.

This essay is based on Chapter 6 in Farganis, Readings in Social Theory, pp. 158-178.

In the first reading of Mead's work, we find:

"Among primitive people, as I have said, the necessity of distinguishing the self and the organism in what we term the "double": the individual has a thing-like self that is affected by the individual as it affects other people and which is distinguished from the immediate organism in that it can leave the body and come back to it. This is the basis for the concept of the soul as a separate entity." At p. 164, col.2.

Consider the implications of the "double" in other Lacan's mirrored self.

Discussion Topics

1. Read Dr. LeRoy H. Carhart's open letter to George Bush on PSN. Notice how Dr. Carhart is asking Bush to step out of himself and observe his righteousness in one situation, while drawing a parallel to the same kind of situation in another issue. In the law we refer to this as building on precedent. Dr. Carhart is suggesting that George Bush has previously decided a social justice issue by condemning the killing of of non-combatant civilians. Now Dr. Carhart points out the similarities to the killing of doctors for engaging in legal activities.

   The technical term for stepping outside of oneself is called "establishing social distance." How does the "double" help us to do that?

   Consider the differences in physical and geographical perspective.

2. How does this stepping outside of oneself relate to play?

   Consider the child's taking of roles in games and in play-acting.