Abstract

There is a close relationship between verbal and physical violence, especially since the passions that lead us to attack are rooted in the intertwining of our aggressive drive and language. A good ground for investigating this intertwining is that of playful activity. Playing allows us to give vent to our drives in a protected environment and without too harmful consequences, but not only that: playing implies being able to come to terms with conventional rule frames, circumscribed in their validity, so as to carve out a situation within the wider logical space of the unlimited contingency of human life. Using the example of the game of “passatellaµ, the article sets out to investigate the intertwining of language and aggression by showing the ways in which the game manages it. At the same time, it proposes to show how, precisely because the game is made up of conventional rules, it can fail in its objective, and violence can explode