Play as Self-Realization Toward a General Theory of Play

In a wide-ranging essay that reviews the major theories of plays and relates them to significant notions of the self, the author addresses the question of why we play. He does so to argue that play is a biologically driven project of self-understanding and self-realization, one that humans-although they also share the experience with other creatures-have developed most fully as a part of their psychological and social life.