The meaning and Specificity of Game-based Cognition in Human Life

Abstract

The article aims to consider specificity of game-based cognition and to reveal universal significance of the phenomenon in relation to conceptual ideas of J. Hazing, G. Gadamer, E. Fink, I. Hesse, and D. Elkonin. The game-based cognition reflects individual ethical attitudes and manifests itself as a tool for constructing an image of reality. The core point is that the game-based cognition is based on simulation and modeling of behavior events and patterns. The methodological strategy involves the dialectic method, the categories of content and form, the principle of constructivism. The article leads to the following conclusions. Firstly, the reconstruction of the content of game activity allows us to identify personal values in regard to meaning of life. Secondly, the assumption of the ambivalence of game activity is accompanied by the analysis of a number of oppositions. Thirdly, the attention is drawn to the ethical markers of game activity, which are concentrated around the requirement of “a fair play”. Fourthly, the group of functions of game activity which are directly connected with perception of individual life is designated. Among them, the compensatory function, the escape function, the adaptive function and self-realization appear to be the most significant ones. They demonstrate the relation between the living conditions, the perception of events and the needs of the person.