ISSN 0798 1015

Vol. 38 (Nº 54) Year 2017. Page 29

The game as the essence of culture

El juego como esencia de la cultura

Seraly Sh. TLEUBAYEV 1; Aigul K. KULBEKOVA 2; Balzhan S. TLEUBAEVA; 3 Dauletkhan S. BOLYSBAEV 4; Ainur A. ZHIYENBEKOVA 5; Alena T. DOSBAGANBETOVA 6; Yermakhan I. KISTAUBAYEV 7; Esen O. OMAR 8; Asia G. ISENGALIEVA 9

Received: 14/07/2017 • Approved: 12/08/2017

Content

1. Introduction

2. Huizinga J. Game Conception of Culture

3. Analysis of the Huizinga J. conception by Fink. E

4. Analysis of the Huizinga J. conception by Hans-Georg Gadamer

5. J. Derrida’s Game Concept

6. Results, Conclusions

Bibliographic references

1. Introduction

The Game is a multisided socio-cultural phenomenon; it is possible to study in terms of any attitude: philosophy, cultural studies, ethnography, pedagogy, psychology, art, physical culture theory, cultural leisure activities, folklore, theatricology, choreography etc. The study of each game aspect enriches the General Game Theory.

Any cultural phenomenon is not only historical and cultural, but also ethno-cultural. While maintaining the essential features of general game phenomenon and even the existence of certain game kinds in each culture of more or less distinctive ethnic group, the game can have ethnic and cultural specificity (S. S. Tleubayev et al., 2015).

The idea of the role and place of the game in culture has been one of the important problems of philosophical analysis since ancient times, which is described in writings of ancient thinkers and scientists. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus compared the Creator of the universe with a child playing yacht and creating the world in the act of playing (1955). A similar gaming formulation of the world powers can be found in the work of Losev A.F. (Losev, 1991).

Plato captured the essence of the game deeply enough noting that the Game is something that does not bring any concrete benefit, is not related to the truth, but it has irresistible charm and accompanied by a feeling of pleasure, since Gods granted it to the people as a respite from their labors (Laws, 1972).

In a fragment of dialogue between Socrates and Adimont said about the social value of games on the example of early children's activity (Losev, 1994).

 Writer and humanist Francois Rabelais has written a novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel", in which the role of games in human development is placed on the first place as a way to better mental and physical development (1896). Voltaire F. mastered the so-called word-play, using, for example, game techniques "parody" and "reduction" in the poem "The virgin of Orleans" (Guzik, 2015).

English philosopher Herbert Spencer treated the game as a manifestation of an excess of vitality that requires its way out. The Game has an artificial vitality practice – the greater is the store of vitality, the greater is the desire to play (Turner, 2014).

German philosopher and psychologist Gross K., discovering the origins of the game in the animal world, considered it as a means of pre-instinctive adaptations of animals and humans to the future life conditions (Meares, 2015).

Sigmund Freud theorizes that the Game is the realization of repressed desires, primary human instinctual drives (Turri, 2015).

Byrne E. describes the Game as the act of interaction, the act of communication, the unit ratio of one person to another by means of verbalization (Berne, 1964).

Kant Immanuel calls the Game and the transformation of the child into a person as a happy time, in which the teacher returns during the process of game interaction (Kant, 2006).

Schiller F. thought the Game became widely known and recognized in modern cultural studies: man plays only when he is a man in the full sense of the word, and he is a man only when he plays (S. Tleubayev, Tleubaeva, Shagitova, & Turdieva, 2014).

Buchner L. led the big debate among scientists by the attitude that the Game rules the labor and production (Bucher, 1898). In contrast to this idea Plekhanov G.V. in his work "Letters without Address", in particular in the third letter, persistently argued that the game is a child of labor (Plekhanov, 1948).

Each thinker and scientist in the process of culture development contribute to knowledge improvement about the nature and cultural role of game and the modern world continues to study the game phenomenon.

Thus, for example, the protagonist’s behavior of the novel "The Gambler" by Dostoevsky is analyzed by means of Freud's theory (Kingma, 2015).

There is a complex issue on the extent of the principles’ definition of human behavior in experimental social-preferred games in the context of games in and outside the laboratories (Galizzi & Navarro-Martínez, 2015).

A comprehensive analysis of various definitions of Game Concept is held as help for scientists to improve attitudes towards this phenomenon (Stenros, 2016).

At East, layer of understanding of the game phenomenon has been studied a little; speaking about eastern thinkers, who studied the game as a means of spiritual and physical development of human and rational means of recreation, can be mentioned Ferdowsi (Valadbeigi & Babakhani, 2014).

In the 20th century, scientists studying the game phenomenon deviated from the debate about the genesis and nature of the game, mainly by developing practical areas of game theory: children and sports games. Theory of sports games, in further developing, for a while became the prevailing concept of game theory (Jones, Edwards, & Viotto Filho, 2016).

Children Games are predominantly studied within the framework of pedagogy and psychology. A number of Soviet scientists (Elkonin, 1999; Leontiev, 1944; Vygotsky, 1933), paying great attention to children games, considered them as a form of child's inclusion in the world of human actions and relations, and thereby made a great contribution to the development of the game theory. The Game, in their opinion, is necessary on the early stages of human development, when highly developed forms of work are impossible for children to directly participate.

As you can see, there have been many studies of the game concept, in consequence of which there were different concepts of its understanding. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to follow the genetic link of games with the main types of art in the concepts of Huizinga J., Fink E., Hans-Georg Gadamer and Derrida J.; to find and identify the differences of understanding of the game phenomenon based on the study of genesis, nature and variety of gaming culture. As a methodological framework, we used comparative and historical-chronological approach to the analysis of literature related to the topic under our study, as well as the method for constructing synthetic inference and analogy.

2. Huizinga J. Game Conception of Culture

Cultural studies receives a strong motive to in-depth study the game theory in the concept of Dutch culture expert Johan Huizinga. If before him the researchers have considered the game as an important and necessary, but significant addition to life, Huizinga opens a new attitude towards the study of game. He did not just state the game importance for the culture, but states the culture asserts itself as a kind of a game (Huizinga, Kegan, London, & Boston, 1922).

Paying tribute to his predecessors, in particular, Frobenius L., Huizinga J., however, insists on the difference between his game-culture understanding and the concepts of preceding him game theorists. He approvingly refers to Frobenius’ desire to bring the concept of game from serious, viability and usefulness matter. Frobenius, according to Huizinga, understands quite well the self-sufficiency of the game and if the game is now depending on expediency, it does not mean to him that it was always so. In addition, Frobenius remains within the traditional understanding of game as a subordinate to something more important and sensitive. The Game ... the right to exist due to the expression of "cosmic emotion" ... The fact that this embodiment in images is being played, apparently, does not have a primary importance. Although, the most important here is the fact of a game itself (Huizinga et al., 1922).

Huizinga J. believes that the main drawback of previous game theories is that they all are treated the game as the antithesis of seriousness. Huizinga also insists on the fact that the game should be considered outside the opposites "seriousness/game" – the game is grater, wider and more fundamental than the seriousness is. The severity should be considered historically, to examine the conditions of its occurrence, as well as conditions of formation of the opposite phenomenon to the game. In addition, if we approach this issue historically, there will be found that the apparent now fundamental concept of "seriousness" is not so original, and the game is much older forms of culture and is fundamentally then serious. There is not the game that is the brainch of the seriousness; on the contrary, the game is something independent. The concept of game is of higher order than the concept of serious. Becouse serious seeks to eliminate the game, but the game is fully capable to include serious (Huizinga et al., 1922). Originally, ancient games had extremely serious nature and were not only inherent from "serious", but they very essence of culture.

In accordance with its original idea, Huizinga culture games uniquely solve the question of game’s genesis. The game relus the culture – this is the main thesis of his concept of game’s genesis. The game has preceded any human culture, because it is typical for many species of animals – they play in the same way as humans do. All the main game features are already present in the animal game, and it can be stated that human civilization has not added any significant sign of the general game concept. Therefrom, the game has a biological beginning. However, this does not mean that human culture does not bring anything significant in game phenomenon. Game, based on human culture, having been borrowed by man from animals and transferred into human society, acquires a new meaning and is greatly enriched. In human culture, there appear specifically human forms of game – unknown and inaccessible to animals. Huizinga insists that the animal game, moreover the hman game, is something more than just entertainment, fun and desipiency.

The Game performs many important functions of culture. Any game explicitly or implicitly contains certain rules, foul which is unacceptable. The game is linked to the ceremonial and ritual, observance of certain positions, gesticulation and movements. Nevertheless, to say that the game performs certain functions, for example, the educational function means initially to distort the essence of the game, to subdue the seriousness of the game, work activities. Therefore, Huizinga is in no hurry to transfer the cultural features of the game, to emphasize self-sufficiency of the game, impossibility to endow with "critical functions". The Game goes beyond the physiological needs or physical activity. The Game “plays along”, has something new in its part that is superior to a direct commitment to the maintenance of life and puts a certain sense into an action – every game means something. If this active principle of the game descriding its essence, call 'spirit', it will be an exaggeration; callimg it the ‘instinct’ means to say nothing. However, this "sense" of the game clearly reveals some immaterial element in the essence of the game (Huizinga et al., 1922). Heyzinga J. concludes that the Game is definitely above any certain definition – it is an eternal mystery.

Since the Game rules the culture, and the essence of the culture comes down to the Game, then the origin of human culture can be explained only from the Game. All cultural phenomena, according to Huizinga, have distinct game nature. The connection of game and culture at the early stage of culture development is clearer than in the later, mature stages. Language – the oldest and most important cultural phenomenon – has originally expressed sense of the Game. According to Huizinga, the game is built into the very core of the language. Classic, "serious" language concepts have always sought to expel the game element of it, to reduce the ambiguity of meanings to the uniqueness, versatility, "accuracy", to expel the metaphor of language as a foreign or "undeveloped" element. Meanwhile, Huizinga notes that the word-play, the fundamental double-meaning, metaphorical and allegorical form make the very nature of language. Language game at the mythological stage of culture performs the function of a person's own world creation by analogy with the divine world creation in a game. This is the cultural creativity function of language, in a broader sense – the Game.

Myth – another ancient culture phenomenon – is also whithin a game framework. Language and myth are closely intertwined and inseparable from each other. Myth has its material embodiment in the language and is impossible without a "story", "narration", language practices. Myth differs from the ritual and represents a different side of the culture – the ritual refers to the practical, active side of primitive culture, it is a system of actions, while the myth is the spiritual, intellectual side of culture, is a system of beliefs about the world. The ritual can exist outside of language, but the myth – cannot. Myth is primarily a language practice. One can argue about what came before – a myth or ritual. In contemporary culture, there is no universally accepted answer to this question, each of the opposing sides have their arguments in favor of this or that. However, in the long term of Huizinga theory, it is important that the myth and ritual are the various forms of gaming culture, filled with game content.

Huizinga received twits from the critics over exaggeration of the role of game in the primitive culture. One of the main arguments was the ritual, ceremonial, traditionally understood as «serious» non-gaming practices. Huizinga insists that the game and hierurgy make up an indivisible unity of primitive culture, that the hierurgy would not be understood, but will be distort without linking it to the game. The connecting element, proving the dependence of ritual and hierurgy with the game, is a celebration – the most ancient form of culture, in which the game and a ritual merge into one. Game – celebration – hierurgy form an integral triad, a single body of primitive culture.

Accordinly to Huizinga, poetry – another old form of culture, originally closely connected with the myth – is also whithin a game framework. In a certain sense, this issue is the central theme of the debate concerning the relationship between the game and the culture. Wherein, while the religion, science, law, war and politics in highly organized forms of society gradually lose previously availible connections with the game, poetry born in the game still feels itself whithin the like at home. Roiesis is a games’ function (Huizinga et al., 1922).

Poetry is born out of the game and in the form of the games; it retains the game element longer than other forms of culture. Therefore, for Huizinga it is best to track the game’s genesis of the culture in terms of the poetic creativity. Poetry is less liable to seriousness; more than other forms of culture is prone to laughter, delight, illogical, recklessness, childhood, the game. To understand the game essence of poetry, there is a need to abandon the aesthetic foundations of poetry. The aesthetic approach to poetry separates it from the life, establishes the opposite of life and game as a natural, turns it into a kind of freight, addition to serious life, while the poetry is inseparable from life from the beginning, is life itself. Poetry performs social, sacred, magical and vital functions in ancient cultures.

Therefore, in all ancient cultures, the bard is a figure of sacred, priestly and often stands above the chiefs and rulers. He possesses the superhuman magic and magical power, mystic bonds associated with the other world and may punish the offender by means of poetic power of the word. He is wise, youth teacher, curator of social experience and traditions, myths, legends and stories, knowledge, genealogies of rulers, heroes and nobility. His word is the last in the popular assemblies, the law for the entire community. Huizinga notes that eventually the figure of bard-clairvoyant is gradually distinguished into the figures of prophet, priest, oracle, mystagogue, poet, as well as philosopher, legislator, demagogue, sophist and rhetorician (Huizinga et al., 1922). Under such understanding of poets’ social status and activities, it would be naive to reduce poetry to a purely aesthetic activity.

At the same close relationship with the game like poetry is another ancient form of culture – music. Like poetry, it is durable and retains the connection for a long time. Musical performance itself is called “playing a musical instrument” for a certain reason. Music expresses the essence of the game even greater, better and cleaner than poetry. The word is the basic basic element and instrument of poetry – in some of its forms it tends to seriousness, logic, truth and morality. All these forms are completely alien to the game. All forms of music are always in the game. Culture development in the direction of "civility" makes the word down-to-earth, and thus, aestheticizes the poetry, makes it more serious. However, cultural "civilization" has practically no effect on the game element of music, it remains purely aa a form of a game.

At the early stages of cultere development, music and poetry were going hand in hand and formed one inseparable unity. In modern culture, we are accustomed to refer to poetry and music as distinct and different forms of art; we believe that this situation has developed since their appereanse. However, the more ancient is the culture, the harder it is to distinguish the poetry from the actual music. Any poetry has been sung, but not just recited, and has been accompanied by a musical accompaniment. The bard was as a poet, a musician, a brilliant owned of many musical instruments. Huizinga notes that the modern word "music", in Greek origin, in Greek culture had a much wider and important cultural value. Music comes from the Muses, patron of the arts, so they are called "music arts." Greeks called “music arts” not only the music, but also poetry, the art of dance and all types of art, even some forms of knowledge (for example, sacred knowledge).

Here we come to the most interesting and important for our study part of the Huizinga theory, where nature's music brings us close to the dance. If in the case of music and everything connected with it, we have always remained within the Games, than in the case of its inseparable twin brother the art of Dance, this has even a greater degree. Whether it is a sacred and magical dances of primitive peoples, dances of the Greek cult, David Dance before the Ark of the Lord or the dance as a holiday amusement; whatever the nation is or age, or dealt we can always say, in the fullest sense of the word, that the Dance is the game itself, moreover, it is one of the most pure and perfect forms of the game (Huizinga et al., 1922).

Huizinga calls the dance the "twin brother" of music and "one of the most pure and perfect forms of the game." This idea is of great theoretical and methodological significance for the study of the genesis of dance. It aims the researchers at the dance consideration in close connection with the game, during the game of ancient practices. If Huizinga statmnet is true that the ancient game rules culture – this is also true for the dance as one of the most pure and perfect forms of the game. Today, with a good reason, biologists speak of marriage, gaming, ritual dancing animals, and this "art" in some animals is almost human perfection. Just as we cannot imagine some of the animals out of the game, we cannot imagine them out and dance. However, if the animal game is associated mainly with infants and children, the dance is associated with quite adult, mature forms of life.

Dance is still closer to the game than the music: we cannot attribute the musical art of animal, except only in an allegorical sense. Man, for example, admire nightingale, but that does not mean that the nightingale has an ear for music, a sense of harmony and other necessary components of the musical art. "Musical Art" of animals as different from the human-like sound is different from music. Musically educated or simply having a delicate ear for music people can hear the music in any sound – howling wind, the roar of storm, the noise of the machine is running, the sounds made by animals. This implies that the man has an ear for music and art, but not the noise things and beings. Nevertheless, the ability to dance in animals is not a metaphor, but literal designation abilities. Therefore, dance, as well as a game, unlike music, has animal, natural origin.

Dancing in antiquity were closely linked and inseparable from the cult, ritual and hierurgy. Huizinga notes "sacrificial dance" as one of the oldest forms of dance games. Modern Ethnology provides for a cultural sientist a wide factual material, indicating that the dance is one of the most natural and effective form of "cultural revival" in the scts of sacrifice, festive activities and ritual performing, as well as brining into play the system of beliefs, mythology and traditions. Primitive culture is very far from the "civilized culture", it is a culture of action, not contemplation, passive complicity. It requires the active participation of every member of the community, promotion, co-creationion, rather than aesthetic empathy. In other words, it requires a physical, rather than spiritual, participation, the work of a body, but not the spirit or imagination. In this regard, returning to the question of the relationship between music, poetry and dance as the oldest forms of culture, we can say that the dance is the most ancient form among them.

Modern ethnology and religious studies argue that the most ancient form of religion and culture is shamanism. It is characteristic of the oldest of the modern traditional cultures – African, Indian, Australian and Pacific. The shaman figure precedes the figure of the druid, a priest and even a poet. It is present in the most ancient forms of human culture. Shaman embodies both the sorcerer (wizard), oracle, cacique, musician and even the poet. In contradistinction from all these cultural figures representing and protecting human culture from the supernatural forces, shaman is at the interface of human and superhuman worlds, is as much a cultural as a divine or animal (superhuman) figure. If it is so, then his action is a synthesis of music, poetry and dance. You can call into question the classification of shamanism practice to the poetic or musical art, but the art of dance is unquestionable. Shamanism is not possible without the active ritualized bodily actions, namely, dance. "The Bard" is the later cultural figure than the shaman is, if for no other reason than because he does not dance, but speaks, sings and requires passive, spiritual complicity. This fact is confirmed by the modern ethnology data on the nature and form of primitive celebrations. All of them not only allow the dance forms, but also unthinkable without them. Huizinga notes that these celebrations are competitions in the art of dance, in which the winner is honored together with cultural hero.

Huizinga carefully consideres and thoroughly examines every phenomenon of primitive culture, in order to be fully convincing in explaining the origin of gaming culture. Sacrificial offering and marital art, deadly game and erotic dance, competition and distribution of gifts (potlatch), marriage ceremonies and litigation, poetry and Dionysian mysteries – all these and many other phenomena of the ancient culture are different varieties of the game, everywhere he seeks and finds deeply hidden elements of gaming culture.

 According Hayzenga the more ancient s the culture, the more brightly and vividly is the nature of the game. While the development of civilization, the game element is being displaced from the culture, giving way to a "serious" activities. Our current attitude to the game is determined by the dominance of labor, morality and other "serious" non-gaming practices of moder culture. Huizinga sees the appearence and development of the "civilized" societies as a growing process of public life displacement and a growing oblivision of the game element of culture.

3. Analysis of the Huizinga J. conception by Fink. E

With the publication of the book of Huizinga J. "Homo ludens» (1938), the game phenomenon becomes the object of attention of philosophers, culture experts, anthropologists, psychologists and representatives of other humanities. The German philosopher, representative of phenomenology – Fink E. supports the Game Conception of Culture. In his famous work "The basic phenomena of human existence" (Fink, 1988) he identifies five basic phenomena: death, work, domination, love and game; each of them is fundamental to human existence in its own way.

Yet, Fink E. cinsideres the game as the most important. If the game is named the last, it is not because it is the "last" in the hierarchical sense – less significant and substantial than death, work, domination and love. The game covers the whole of human life to its foundations; it seizes and substantially determines the existential human warehouse, as well as a way human understands the existence (Fink, 1988).

As Huizinga does, Fink consideres the appereance of culture in connection with the game. He divides the original thesis of Huizinga: culture is born out of the game, during the game and in the form of a game, but Fink connects the game phenomenon just with human culture. He recognizes that human games, particularly children games, are very difficult to distinguish from the animal games, but insists that the biological and zoological concept of the game is fundamentally different from the philosophical and anthropological. The animal does not know the fantasy of games as communication with the possibilities; it does play, referring itself to the imaginary vision. Following the attitude of behavioral science, specifically human behavior in the game cannot be identified. An urgent challenge of philosophical reflection is the assertion of the game concept meaning the basic phenomenon of life in spite of broad and ambiguous use of the word "game" in the zoological studies of behavior (Fink, 1988). He consideres a deep understanding of the game concept and game phenomenon as an urgent task of philosophy.

Fink consideres the human special ability to imagine, to dream as initial base of human game in contrast to the "animal game". We cannot identify the animal games with human, primarily because the animals have no imagination, whereas it is the basis not only in human games, but also in many other phenomena of human existence. By virtue of imagination, the animal games are transformed into actual human, forming human culture. Fantasy is almost everywhere: it breeds in our consciousness, embellishes or distorts for us any image, defines the relation of a man to death, fills us with fear or hope, it – as a creative inspiration – directs and inspires our work, opens up the possibility of political action and makes the lovers even brightly in the eyes of each other. Fantasy is both dangerous and gracious human property, without it our being would have been bleak and devoid of creativity. Penetrating all spheres of human life, the imagination still has a special place that can be considered as its home: it is a Game (Fink, 1988).

Fink E. highlights several important moments in the game phenomenon. The game possesses the gamer completely. A man possessed by the game forgetes about everything; all other values of life – mind, morality, sense of expediency etc. – fade in comparison with the splendor and charm of the game. There is no man, who does not know what the game is, or did not play it during life. In addition, the experience of the game, unlike many other types of cultural experiences that are often external to the individual character, is given to a person personally and directly. The Game is an impulsive, spontaneous action aimed at getting pleasure, feelings of pleasure and happiness. In labour and domination, happiness is always present in the mode of the future, it is the aim of these committed actions; in the game, happiness is a part of a person, it directly provides this feeling to the gamer. The game is the most efficient and adequate solution to the problem of happiness. The paradox of modern society is that attributing happiness in the mode of the future, making it the ultimate goal of human existence we turn our lives into an endless pursuit of happiness, but never catch up with it. Among all five major phenomena of human existence only the game brings the problem of happiness from the future into the present, gives a person a feeling of happiness in the present.

According to Fink E., the game is self-sufficient, unlike other phenomena of life. All other cultural phenomena have their objectives outside theirseves: in death of it is obvious, the work has an objective to meet the needs in domination – subordination to the other, love – a full merger with another person, which is never achievable. The Game has a purpose in itself, it is an end in itself. The game has no "purpose", does not serve anything. It is useless and worthless: it is not correlated with any ultimate goal – the ultimate goal of human life, in which you believe or which you proclaim. Original player plays in order to play. The game is for itself and in itself, it has more than one esense, it is an "exception" (Fink, 1988). Playing for some purpose – whether selfish or unselfish – is not a game in the strict sense. When we play for the sake of profit, maintaining or improving health, skills acquisition, holding time or wanting to get rid of boredom, we are not gaming, but rather working beings. Fink E. notes that such an understanding of the game is particularly for pedagogy, which final goal of the game is the child's preparation for adult life. Pedagogy deprives adult human life with its gaming base, claims its serious non-game character, and thus, reduces the game to childishness, immaturity, inferiority, childhood.

The Game is a form of art, creation of new, not found in nature. We should also look closely at the huge gaming experience of all time to write a new history of culture – history of cultural "inventions" of humanity in the game. It would be a different story than the story of our inventions of instruments, machines, equipment, and military weapons – useful and feasible inventions. However, the prior invention– a toy – is useless. All useful inventions reference to it as it is their basis. Of course, the game does not necessarily imply the toys and can be carried out without them. However, at one point in playing, the mind invents a toy and it is, apparently, the first artifact of culture, the first cultural invention. It seems that a toy can tbe mentioned by any child, and yet, the nature of toys is a dark tangled problem (Fink, 1988). The toy is not a product of labor; many toys were taken from nature, for example, pebbles, shells and bones. Hence, the nature of toys is rooted not in the labor force. Undoubtedly, in the culture and labour forms’ development, the labour overcomes the production of toys. Nevertheless, even in this case, not all the toys have the function of utility and feasibility. Ceremonial implements, women, soldiers, priests and caciques ornamental are not directly useful in terms of purpose. The toy helps a child and an adult to move from the sphere of reality, of everyday life into an imaginary sphere. Thus, it acquires magical properties, transforms the player into fictional creature. The culturalar invention as the invention of the culture itself begins with the criation of toys.

Fink E. as Huizinga J. refers to the game phenomenon and art. Among the oldest forms of art, he also highlights the dance as one of the purest forms of gaming. However, in contrast to Huizinga J., he does not pay special attention to the dance, considering it only as part of a festive culture and noting that the celebratory circular chain includes both the music and the dance. Music and dance merges mimic gesticulation. All this happens on a festive merrymaking, where the celebrating community is transformed into a gazing community (Fink, 1988).

4. Analysis of the Huizinga J. conception by Hans-Georg Gadamer

Much attention is paid to the game phenomenon by the major German thinker of the 20th century Hans-Georg Gadamer (Gadamer, 1988). He consideres the game concept in the context of aesthetic activity, noting that the understanding of the game should be released from the subjectivist and aesthetic understanding of the peculiar modern anthropology under the influence of Kant and Schiller's aesthetics. The Game should be understood as a way of art being. The initial statment of Gadamer’s game concept, like in his predecessors, is the destruction of seriousness as the prospective of game perception. He also notes the self-sufficiency and self-worth of the game and its cultural and historical precedence of seriousness. The game has its own sacred seriousness. This applies not only to the old but also to the modern game phenomena – the game is the game not due to the following from of its correlation with seriousness, but the seriousness whithin the game. Anyone who does not take the game seriously spoils it. The way of game existence does not allow the player’s attitude towards it as a subject (Gadamer, 1988).

According to Gadamer, the essence of the game would slip away from us, if we look for it in the subject of the game – in the player. The real subject of the game is the game itself. Player is only an instrument, the possibility of implementing the game. The Game is a pure act, committing movement. The game concept rejects the usual substantial logic and represents a pure meditation, function, mediation. Hence, the impersonal nature of the verb "to play" in different languages, its universal applicability even in the situations, which have completely non-game features (Gadamer gives an example of the German language - Веi-Spiel, which means "example", but literally – "in a game"). The player falls deeply into the Games, plays his heart out and does not impose his actions, but accepts its rules. He is capable of endless monotonous repetition of the same actions that quickly lead to fatigue or boredom in other types of activities (such as work).

Gadamer brings understanding of the game into the language; such transfer becomes a kind of a standard for all modern game concepts. In these conceptions, the language concept gets an extremely broad explanation. One of the final chapters of the main Gadamer's work "Truth and Method" is called "Language as the experience of the world". It is not a metaphor, but a literal understanding of the world: the world expresses itself in the language. The language of the world experience is "absolute." It rises above the relativity of all our existential suggestions... The language feature of our experience of the world precedes everything that we know and express as being. The fundamental connection between language and the world does not mean  that the world is becoming the subject of language. Rather, what is the subject of cognition always has surrounded the world language (Gadamer, 1988). Since the language is understood as the foundation, or, as Gadamer says, "the horizon of the world", the main phenomenon of this world – the Game – is a game of language. Man is not able to "jump" from his linguistic experience, which he expresses, embodies, objectified in the most "human" form in language.

The Game is not limited with language, it is a specific action, and only then it can be expressed (but not necessarily) in the language. The Game is corporeal, not just verbal practice; there are many silent games, not calling out to the language and dealing only with certain actions and movements.

5.  J. Derrida’s Game Concept

One of the modern game concepts is determined by the French philosopher Derrida J. as one of the major trends of Western thought of the 20 century – The movement towards the language (Nurzhanov, 1996). Almost all the leading trends show a surprising unanimity in the understanding of language as a priority feature of human life. The point here is not that the language is one of the most important features of human being, but that everything is about language, there is nothing human without language. A number of leading philosophical concepts, such as analytic philosophy, hermeneutics, and structuralism are direct product of this tendency. Understanding of the culture as a sphere of human language activity is characteristic even for such "non-linguistic" concepts like Freudianism, phenomenology, and existentialism ... this trend can be called a linguistic revolution in modern Western thought (Nurzhanov, 1996).

 Derrida’s game concept is put into the context of the destruction of the old world, overestimation of established values, and loss of sense of being by a Westerner. When the old sense of being is lost and the old sense of logic is crumbling, the person perceives it as a collapse of the world, a global catastrophe. This state Derrida defines as a Game. Today the Game complies only with itself, blurring the line upon which it was thought possible to control the circulation of signs, involving all immutable means, eliminating all the works, all the "non-game" dens that were over the field of language (Nurzhanov, 1996). Thus, Derrida considered the game as a universal human cultural field, engaging in it and making the game out of all the most serious social and individual practices. His understanding of the game in contrast to previous metaphysical concepts is the following: before him, the thinkers considered the game as the world, he insists on an understanding of the world as a game – there is a need to understand the game of the world before you understand all forms of the game in the world (Nurzhanov, 1996). Understanding the "game in the world" presupposes this world with the current structure, where the game is to find its place in the structure of the world. Understanding the "world as a game" takes the game beyond the world, making it a condition of world’s creation, it’s the very structure.

 6. Results, Conclusions

Summarizing the analysis of the game phenomenon in modern culture and philosophy, based on the researches of J. Huizinga, E. Fink, Hans-Georg Gadamer and J. Derrida, one can determine similarities and differences in their understanding of the game concept.

The Game Conception of Culture by J. Huizinga, and E. Fink: the Game is the most important part of human being. Culture is born out of the game, during the game and in the form of the game. However, Huizinga J. argues that all the basic features of human games are already present in the animal game, that is, the man borrowed and improved the animal game, Fink E. connects the game phenomenon only with human culture. He recognizes that human game, particularly children game, is very difficult to distinguish from the animal game, but insists that the biological and zoological game concept is fundamentally different from the philosophical and anthropological.

Fink believes that the certain feature of human game is special human ability to imagine and to dream, which is missing in animals.

J. Huizinga sees the game out of opposites "seriousness/game", because the concept of "serious" seeks to exclude itself from the "game", but the "game" is fully capable to include "serious". Hans-Georg Gadamer also notes the self-sufficiency and self-worth of the game and its cultural and historical precedence of seriousness. The real object of the game is the game itself; the player is only the instrument and the possibility of the game. Unlike other life phenomena, E. Fink also considered the self-sufficient of the game, the form of art, by means of which it is possible to create something new, not found in nature. The Game is an impulsive, spontaneous action aimed at getting a sense of happiness.

Fink E. as Huizinga J. refers to the game phenomenon and art. Huizinga is positioning the dance as a twin brother of the game, as it is the most pure and perfect form of culture. In ancient times, the dance was closely associated with the cull, ritual, myth and hierurgy. "Sacrificial dance" is noted as one of the oldest forms of dance games. The rules are visual or hidden, but they are always present in the game, thus, Huizinga connects the game with the concept of ritual ceremonies. Music, like poetry, are the best expressions of the game. Unlike Huizinga J., Fink E. considers the dance only in the framework of festive culture, but agreeing with Huizinga J. about the inextricable link between music, dance and the game, filling myth, ritual and poetry with the elements of the game.

Hans-Georg Gadamer also carries the attention of the game to the language, which was affected by Huizinga J. – he considers language as initially expressed gaming sense, a word-play, fundamental double-meaning, metaphorical and allegorical form of the very nature of language.

The Game by Gadamer is not confined only to the sphere of language – it is a specific action and only then can be expressed in language. The Game is positioned as a corporal practice, independent from the need in verbal expression.

While all privies thinkers considered the game in the world, Derrida J. considers the world as a game. That is, firstly, there is a need to understand the game of the world before understanding all forms of the game in the world. J. Derrida’s concept – the movement towards the language – is different from Gadamer's concept. Everything is language – understanding is inherent even for "non-linguistic" concepts like Freudianism. The game concept is put in the context of destruction of the old world, the loss of sense of being by a Westerner. The Game complies only with itself.

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1. Department of Art, SKSU name after M.Auezov, tleubayev63@list.ru

2. Department of management of scientific and technical activity, The Kazakh national academy of choreography, Kubelek_wkz@mail.ru

3. Department of Art, SKSU name after M.Auezov, treubaeva_balgan@outlook.com

4. Department of fine art and design, SKSU name after M.Auezov, daulet.bolysbaev.74@mail.ru

5. Department of KLSW, SKSU name after M.Auezov, ainur7105@mail.ru

6. Department of Musical Education, South Kazakhstan State Pedagogical Institute, aliya.tore@mail.ru

7. Department of Natural Sciences, Regional Socio-Innovative University, erma_kystaubaev@mail.ru

8. Department of KLSW, SKSU name after M.Auezov, omar_e43@mail.ru

9. Department of General History and museum, SKSU name after M.Auezov, bal_67@list.ru