#1. Introduction to a New Substack

Here I want to give you an idea of what this series of letters, from me to you, is all about.

IN the late 18^th century, the German playwright, poet, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller wrote, “Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays.”

How far might we go with this statement if we take it not just as a bit of poetry or philosophical musing, but as a scientific truth about human nature? That’s what this series of letters is about.

In the early 20^th century, the Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga wrote a book entitled “Homo Ludens,” which is one of very few classic works on human play. The title implied that we are Humo ludens (playful humans) perhaps more than we are Homo sapiens (wise humans—the name we have immodestly given ourselves). I love the title of Huizinga’s book and learned much from the contents, but the contents do not do justice to the title. In the forward, Huizinga wrote, “…play is understood here not as a biological phenomenon but as a cultural phenomenon. It is approached historically, not scientifically.”

What if we approached our playful nature scientifically, aiming to understand it as a biological (and psychological and anthropological) concept? That’s what this series of letters is about.

Here are some of the questions we shall explore in this series:

• How do we humans differ from other animals, particularly from other apes, in our playfulness?

• How did our playfulness allow us to live, share, and cooperate in multi-male, multi-female groups unlike other primates?

• How might female selection of mates have contributed to the rise in playfulness and decline in aggressiveness in human evolution?

• How might the symbolic nature of play have provided a foundation for the origin of human language?

• How does play provide a foundation for human morality?

• How does the drive to play counter the drive to dominate, when we allow play to flourish?

• How do the playful religions of hunter-gatherers differ in social consequences from the hierarchical, fearsome religions that arose from agriculture and feudalism?

• How does our Homo ludens nature offer respite and possible salvation from our planet-destroying Homo economicus nature?

• How do children’s playfulness and curiosity provide the natural foundation for education, that is, for the uniquely human capacity for cultural acquisition?

• What happens when children are deprived of play, as children are today?

• If play is so valuable, so intrinsic to our nature, then why has play been denigrated for so long by societal forces?

• If play is so valuable, so intrinsic to our nature, then why do psychologists pay so little attention to it?

• How is play one of the two “mothers of invention” (the other being necessity), and how do the offspring of these two mothers differ?

• What can we do to augment our own, personal playfulness?

• What can we do to augment play and playfulness in the world in which we live?

I said that WE shall explore these topics, and I invite you to be part of that “we.” One reason for my choosing Substack is that readers are free to comment and thereby contribute. I have long been writing a blog for Psychology Today, but a few years ago the editors stopped allowing comments, which made the whole thing less fun (less playful) for me.

I enjoy comments and learn from them. I won’t have time to respond to all comments, but I will aim to read them all and they will affect my thinking and writing as we go along. I may also at times use this newsletter as a source of information—conducting little surveys to get readers’ thoughts or experiences concerning a particular issue. I hope you will participate. Of course, I encourage a respectful attitude in all comments, especially when responding to someone else’s comment.

Finally, as part of this welcome, you might want to know a little about me. I’m a Boston College research professor of psychology and neuroscience. I’m author of the first introductory psychology textbook that examines all of psychology from an evolutionary perspective and the book Free to Learn: Why Releasing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life, which has been translated into 18 languages. I have published many academic articles on play and self-directed education, many of which you can find and download on my website.

Thank you for reading this first, introductory letter. Subscribe now if not yet subscribed, and please let others, who mights be interested, know about this series of letters.

Please feel free to subscribe for free. If, at some point, you decide to make a pledge, as an expression of your enjoyment of these letters and encouragement for me to continue, please know that all pledges received will be used to help support nonprofit organizations devoted to bringing more play and freedom into children’s lives.

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