Homo Ludens (book) - VI. Playing and Knowing

VI. Playing and Knowing

“For archaic man, doing and daring are power, but knowing is magical power. For him all particular knowledge is sacred knowledge—esoteric and wonder-working wisdom, because any knowing is directly related to the cosmic order itself.”

The riddle-solving and death-penalty motif features strongly in the chapter.

  • Greek tradition: the story of the seers Chalcas and Mopsos.

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Famous quotes containing the words playing and/or knowing:

    New York has never learnt the art of growing old by playing on all its pasts. Its present invents itself, from hour to hour, in the act of throwing away its previous accomplishments and challenging the future. A city composed of paroxysmal places in monumental reliefs.
    Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)

    That was the birth of sin. Not doing it, but KNOWING about it. Before the apple, [Adam and Eve] had shut their eyes and their minds had gone dark. Now, they peeped and pried and imagined. They watched themselves.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)