Philosophy of Sport

[hermes_the_thrice_gr (hermes the thrice great)]

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING PHILOSOPHICAL FROM SPORTS?

I have learned the value of endurance from track in high school and how natural selection works from kung fu.

[Thoutoyoureye]

My philisophical reflection on popular sport - an obvious outworking of the tribal instinct for conflict, worship of idols, religious-esque worship and homo-erotica

[LostGuy]

Sports are often used in examples of philosophy of language. For instance, it’s been argued that you don’t need a full set of persice rules in language, just like you don’t need them in tennis. There is no rule in tennis (or at least there wasn’t at some point) that said how high one could throw the ball when serveing- so one could throw the ball so high that their oppent died before they got a chance to play. But yet this isn’t really a problem and people play anyway.

(This arguement is not nessiarly reflect the views of me.)

[Marshall_McDaniel]

Albert Camus wrote that he learned everything about ethics from watching soccer in college…

[DarkMagus]

chomsky says that sports are a sort of “diversion for the masses”. to keep “them” from thinking too much about things that matter.

from a lecture (excerpted from the canadian documentary “manufacturing consent”):

Take, say, sports – that’s another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it – you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that’s of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about…things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it’s striking to see the intelligence that’s used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in – they have the most exotic information and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this.

You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? I mean, I don’t know anybody on the team, you know? I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn’t…make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it’s a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements – in fact, it’s training in irrational jingoism. That’s also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that’s why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on.

emphasis and ellipses added by: ME.

what about natural selection and kung fu? and other ones? i couldn’t think of any actual examples… i only played sports when i was a kid so i wasn’t really up for any philosophical reflection.

[DarkPool]

Issue 41 of the Philosophy Now magazine had some coverage of Philosophy and Sports:
philosophynow.org/backissues/issue41.htm

[The_Underground_Man]

I learned that ones main practice occurs in the mind with imagery and in turn manefests itself in the material world.

[itel7]

1st of all chomsky is odd based on his language acquisition theory.

2nd of all:
some one once told me that “sport is the first step to ignorance” which is true in some sense that you play out on your insticts and and it mainly depends on nerve and muscle connection and how good it is. But also it is refelction of ancient cavemen how they would hunt and gather!!!

but other than that i love sports

[DarkMagus]

@itel7

1st of all chomsky is odd based on his language acquisition theory.

why is that odd? chomsky is not only a linguist, but a self-made scholar of politics, world order, the media, and everything that goes along with that. don’t assume i don’t know. and don’t assume you’ve “blown my mind, mannn” with that remark. i’m familiar with his theory of language acquisition and i can say with the greatest amount of confidence that that has absolutely nothing to do with this topic. i like how some people just spill out everything they’ve memorized at just the slightest provocation…blindly hoping that they will somehow come close to the mark.

and all you’ve contributed to this thread is something that began with:

some one once told me…

so let’s not even get into it. (will one of the serious logicians around here point out the difference in value between a referenced quote and a straight-up, second-hand “argument from authority”?)

chomsky still stands as completely relevant to this thread.