Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 15.djvu/48

34 w. H. WINCH : strongly marked theories on education. On the contrary, such a study tends at least to modify the ferocity with which conflicting theories are held, and to harmonise them by mutual delimitation. It is extremely rare that the enthusiasm and physical energy of the successful teacher are found in combination with the knowledge and outlook of the synthetic thinker, so that much of the work done in Education has barely more than historical value. As an illustration, let me quote Froebel l : " Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage (childhood) and at the same time typical of human life as a whole of inner hidden natural life in man and all things. It holds the sources of all that is good. The plays of children are the germinal leaves of all later life." One simply asks: "Is there any justification for the ex- aggeration of such a passage as this ? " And how much of it is intelligible ? What is ' human life as a whole of inner hidden natural life in man and all things ' ? ' Play holds the sources of all that is good,' we are told. Work then, presumably, is a source of evil ; at least, no good can be derived from it, for all the good comes from play. But, further on, we find that the ' plays of children are the germinal leaves of all later life,' so out of them grows all the evil as well as all the good. It is time that these mixtures of eloquence and logical in- consistency should be replaced by careful studies of the facts of the problem. In the face of extracts such as these, it is difficult to believe that we mis-read Froebel when we say that he overestimates the utility of play. If the spirit under- lying this extract be the spirit of truth we might ask con- cerning the child, "Is it playing?" And on receiving an affirmative answer, might say joyously : ' Then all is well '. Considerations such as these must be the practical justifica- tion for this essay. It may be of advantage if I give here in outline the general plan of what follows. First, I discuss the standpoints from which play can be re- garded. We should expect, from illustrations in other de- partments of knowledge, that the classification and definition of the same object, as we call it, would vary according to the purposes of the classification. Psychology holds to the individualistic view ; a playful activity to one person may be a piece of hard work to another. 1 Ediication of Man, p. 30, Hailmann's translation.