For the ancient Greeks, sport was an integral part of education. Athletic programs remain in schools today, but there is a growing gap between the modern sports experience and enduring educational values such as self-discovery, responsibility, respect, and citizenship. Is there a way to bridge this gap? Can sports be a means to teach values such as these? Josh and Ken try out with Heather Reid from Morningside College, author ofThe Philosophical Athlete.
运动能让我们更好地思考吗?肯这么认为;乔什不信。但是，尽管乔希提到了运动对健康的担忧和对身体的损害，肯认为，运动教会我们认识到自己的极限，迫使我们面对自己。他补充说，体育训练灌输了专注和决心等重要的习惯，正如古希腊人所认为的那样，帮助我们进入有哲学意义的生活。尽管如此，乔什打电话肯承认，体育不都是好的;玩家在参与游戏过程中所受到的永久性身体和精神伤害是不可低估的。
Heather Reid, professor of philosophy at Morningside College and author ofThe Philosophical Athlete，乔什和肯。乔希和肯向希瑟提出挑战，让他们思考体育的商业化是否已经腐化了其实践，希瑟回应说，我们不能简单地把体育看作是给球员和管理者带来经济利益。她补充说，虽然成为职业运动员和赚钱运动员的可能性不大，但从事体育运动的好处是很多的，包括在团队中找到自己的位置，了解自己，培养自己的能力。She relates these ideas to those of the ancient Greeks who established the Olympic Games and the idea of arete, the Greek virtue of excellence.
In the next segment Heather, Josh, and Ken explore sports and its relations to society. Heather emphasizes that competition in sport can in fact promote excellence and, not just that, encourage players to recognize their opponents as fellow human beings. She notes that the Greek virtue of arete was always understood in the context of community and that the Olympic Games, a religious ritual, was meant to please the Gods and, in turn, help everyone. The philosophers conclude the discussion by discussing the unjust aspects of society that sports might help reinforce, including toxic masculinity in the locker room, social class and racial divides, and how these unjust tendencies can be mediated.
Comments(4)
simka321
Sunday, August 26, 2018 -- 10:47 AM
On your show today aboutOn your show today about athletes, I hope that you touch on the metaphysical angle. Particularly, what I have in mind is Schopenhauer's notion that the optimal connection we have with ultimate Reality and the Will is through the body.
toddwilliamsmith
Sunday, August 26, 2018 -- 11:26 AM
Is the philosophy of sportIs the philosophy of sport just a way of justifying the existence of the sport?
Harold G. Neuman
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 -- 7:01 AM
I think I made some remark or我想我在2018年对此发表过一些评论。现在回想起来，读了TWS的提问，我的想法是:如果运动员渴望哲学思考，那就这样吧。我对哲学的欣赏直到很久以后才显现出来，但是，我真的很喜欢打篮球。严格地说，这位橄榄球四分卫的动机并不是出于哲学。如果没记错的话，他是在向那些在法律下争取平等待遇的人表示声援，这是第十四条修正案的内容。哲学或者人权，或者两者都可以。我不知道。但是，我有点怀疑四分卫想到的是亚里士多德、苏格拉底或戴维森。也许，罗尔斯?
Tim Smith
Sunday, April 25, 2021 -- 5:42 AM
Philosophy uber alles. ThePhilosophy uber alles. The athlete as philosopher could just as easily be replaced with the construction “The ‘X’ as philosopher.” The teacher as philosopher; the artist, the parent, the soldier. Each of these activities reflects philosophy, but sport has a unique and damned role in enforcing the power structures of society and, for the greater part, limiting human potential rather than transcending it.
Arete changed meaning from Homer to Athens to biblical times putting color to virtue, excellence, purpose, prosperity, ethics and morality. Using this term as a proxy for virtue does a great disservice to sport and the use of that term. The greeks themselves struggled to give this term meaning – which makes its fundamental worth questionable here. Heather Reid’s book on Aretism - Aretism: An Ancient Sports Philosophy for the Modern World is not a book I have read. Perhaps I should. In any case, it rubs me wrong to talk of athletic arete – when sport all too often justifies inequity in modern life. This is dangerous.
游戏和运动不是一回事。我真希望节目在那里播出。这是理解大学体育的基础，这篇文章从现代体育体验和持久教育价值之间的差距开始。由于sars，比赛减少，令人不安的过早推动继续运动。如果大学和职业体育有值得传授的价值观，公共卫生就不是其中之一。
The best, genuine, and fundamental values of sport – its arete if Heather would go there – are the values Ed mentioned in his call-in, stressing the long-term effects. Brain, body, and gut intertwine in a way that is uniquely human. There is no philosophy without the body. If sport can/would delineate that point alone, maybe it is less damned in my book. As it is, I’d rather my alma mater and TV were clean of anything but non-varsity sports.
I appreciate the beauty of sport. I don’t think there is much outside intramural competition to make for a better life. Professional athletes are a hollow idol of philosophy, reflecting luck and elitism more than encouraging discipline, self-knowledge, or wisdom.