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German psychologist and philosopher (1861?1946)
Karl Groos
(10 December 1861, in
Heidelberg
– 27 March 1946, in
Tubingen
) was a German
philosopher
and
psychologist
who proposed an evolutionary
instrumentalist
theory of play. His 1898 book on
The Play of Animals
suggested that play is a preparation for later life.
Groos was full Professor of philosophy in
Gießen
,
Basel
and 1911?1929 in
Tubingen
.
His main idea was that play is basically useful, and so it can be explained by the normal process of
evolution
by
natural selection
. When animals 'play' they are practising basic instincts, such as fighting, for survival. This is translated from the original as "pre-tuning".
[1]
Despite this insight, Groos' work is seldom read today, and his connection of play with
aesthetics
has been termed "misguided".
[2]
Another area of study was the psychology of literature, including statistical analysis.
Among his scholars is the German philosopher
Willy Moog
(1888?1935) (doctorate on
Goethe
supervised by Karl Groos in Gießen 1909).
Works
[
edit
]
- Einleitung in die Asthetik
. Gießen: Ricker, 1892
- Die Spiele der Tiere
(Jena 1896); translated by J. Mark Baldwin as
The Play of Animals
(New York 1898) (3rd German ed. 1930)
- Die Spiele der Menschen
(Jena 1899); translated by J. Mark Baldwin as
The Play of Man
(New York 1901) (many editions)
- Des Seelenleben des Kindes
(Berlin 1904)
- 1902:
Der asthetische Genuss
. Gießen: Ricker.
- 1910:
Die akustischen Phanomene in der Lyrik Schillers
- 1920:
Bismarck im eigenen Urteil
, Stuttgart 1920
- 1922:
Das Spiel
. Jena: G. Fischer.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Lorenz, Konrad
1970.
Studies in animal and human behaviour
. vol 1, Methuen, London, p91.
- ^
Fagan, Robert 1981.
Animal play behavior
. Oxford University Press, p4.
ISBN
0-19-502761-2
External links
[
edit
]
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