Abstract
Philosophy is often epitomized as the noble art of asking the right questions. In this chapter I will also try to formulate a sport philosophical answer to the question how we are to live in times of environmental crisis and moral desorientation. I will do so by broadening the practical philosophical perspective I developed so far. Firmly rooted in continental philosophy, over time I have increasingly become infected by William James’s pragmatist adage that truth can only be found in the practical consequences of philosophical thinking. Integrating the pragmatic stance into my continental approach, I now will argue in favour of a life fully lived in strenuous endurance sport, for I regard both traditions as complementary rather than exclusionary. Endurance sport, conceived as a committed and holistic lifestyle, rather than as a gratuitous playful pastime, is a preferential tool for carving out the good life we are to lead, and which leads into a sustainable future.
As will have become clear in previous chapters, for my continentally inspired view on the benefits of human endurance in general I am indebted both to Sigmund Loland’s ecosophical work and to Peter Sloterdijk’s kynical thoughts on how to change our lives through asceticism. In You must Change your Life, Sloterdijk regularly hints at possible directions for improving our lives. We should become more environmentally conscious, less susceptible for the temptations of hyper-consumptive modern life—“banalised Enlightenment”, in Sloterdijk’s wording —, willing to put in more effort when it comes to satisfying our vertical needs, becoming more resilient, mentally as well as physically. Still, there remain quite a few loose ends when it comes to concretely stepping over from theoretical ascetology to ascetic action. The tenacious question still is: how to concretize and materialise ecosophical-ascetological initiatives?
My aim in this chapter is to further develop Sloterdijk’s provocative, agonistic style in a pragmatist manner: how to change our lives for the better through properly practiced endurance sport, particularly of the cycling kind?
The higher heroisms and the old rare flavors are passing out of life(William James 1899, p. 6).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
“Yonder puny fellow, however, whom every one can beat, suffers no chagrin about it, for he has long ago abandoned the attempt to ‘carry that line’, as the merchants say, of self at all” (James 1890/2007, p. 330).
- 2.
“We take pleasure and enjoy ourselves as they [man] take pleasure; we read, see, and judge about literature and art as they see and judge; likewise we shrink back from the ‘great mass’ as they shrink back; we find ‘shocking’ what they find shocking. The ‘they’, which is nothing definite, and which all are, though not as the sum, prescribes the kind of Being of everydayness” (Heidegger 1927/2008, p. 164).
- 3.
In the next chap. I will also provide anecdotal evidence ad feminem.
- 4.
René Gude, the late Dutch ‘philosopher of the fatherland’, who, in the line of reasoning of You must Change your Life, considered philosophy “as a training programme for life” (Van de Poll, 2015) Cfr. also Sloterdijk’s diaries for his cycling experiences (2018).
- 5.
The Passo de Gavia is the tenth highest pave road in the Alps (Height: 2621 m. Length: 17.3 k. Average gradient: 7.9.). The pass is often on the route of the Giro d’Italia. Sometimes the pass is designated the Cima Coppi, the highest point of the race. One of the most heroic stages in the Giro took place at 5 June 1988. The race passed over the Gavia in a snowstorm, which resulted in an epic stage won by Dutchman Erik Breukink. American Andrew Hampsten, the second-place finisher, became the overall race leader and finally won the Giro. Many cyclists had to step out of race at the top of the Gavia due to nearly frozen limbs. Others, such as the Dutchman Johan van der Velde, who started the climb in a leading position, were transported in cars towards the finish, turned a blind eye by the officials.
- 6.
I do not own a drivers license, however, which ecosophically levels out the vast arsenal of cycles.
- 7.
Which is no sinecure as of a certain age because of declining motor ability (if any).
- 8.
I’m in good company. The Belgian philosopher Marc Van den Bossche suggests that the university might donate him a Colnago racing bike, since this the perfect tool for him to develop interesting ideas on. He does so with a twinkle in the eye and in a popular publication. But still. “Science will thrive by this!” (2005, p. 133, my translation).
- 9.
In the Netherlands there is a vast market for so-called special needs bicycles for people with specific handicaps, such as amputated limbs or balance disorders.
- 10.
This refers to Martin Heidegger’s Letter on Humanism (1947/1977). There Heidegger argues that classic humanism has failed since it has itself in the centre of being by interpreting homo sapiens as an animal rationale, trying to control reality instead of listening to depth being in a passive mood (Gelassenheit or releasement).
- 11.
Cfr. for a detailed analysis of this debate Couture (2016), who in Chap. 4 Controversy refers to Sloterdijk’s militant nature: “he wishes rather to embody an agonistic stance, inhibited by neither political sensitivity nor scholarly caution, that dares to publicly raise controversial issues”. This suits perfectly well with the overarching idea of this study: to stand up for a revaluation of a physically oriented philosophy of sport that can serve as a grindstone for a sustainable lifestyle beyond the narrowing perspective of Habermas’s drawing table theory of communicative action, which largely ignores the idea that physicality is prior to deliberation. Sloterdijk is far more aware of the whims of our limbic system. Shortly after the first skirmishes as a result of Rules for the human zoo journalist Frits de Lange has called Sloterdijk “an easy rider philosopher, born to be wild” in the Dutch national newspaper Trouw (October 9, 1999). It has to be noted, however, that Sloterdijk is a rebel with a cause. To channel this Sloterdijkian intellectual wildness into a durable lifestyle that still leave space for our inborn competitiveness is another way to phrase the key issue of this book.
- 12.
An open space in the woods, according to Heidegger the place where truth can be revealed (aletheia).
- 13.
This is the official norm set by the Dutch government. This norm is specified for different age-groups. For 55 up the advice is to exercise minimal 5 but preferably 7 days a week moderately intensive, which means walking at 3–4 km per hour or cycle at 10 km per hour (Gezondheidsraad 2017). (Which is quite slow, in a flat country as The Netherlands. Even with a reasonable headwind it should be possible to ride 15km per hour, I argue).
- 14.
Sloterdijk argues that until the rise of European universities education was transfiguration-centred. “And those who have been called ‘professors’ since the sixteenth century were initially no more than trainers at schools of transfiguration, and those later termed ‘students’ were first of all seekers in whom the eros of impossibility was at work more academico. They yielded willingly to the illusion that it was indispensable for all advanced civilizations: that the inimitable is imitable, and the incomparable repeatable” (Sloterdijk 2009/2013, p. 322–323).
- 15.
This refers to Nietzsche’s idea of ‘Verfeinerte Grausamkeit’, refined cruelty, as a positive, character-building sentiment that is worth striving for.
References
Anderson, D. 2001. Recovering humanity: Movement, sport and nature. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 28: 140–150.
Aristotle. 1999. Ethica Nicomacheia. Kitchener: Batoche Books.
Breivik, G. 2010. Philosophical perfectionism – Consequences and implications for sport. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 4 (1): 87–105.
Camus, A. 1942/1991. The myth of Sisyphus and other essays. New York: Vintage Books.
Couture, J.P. 2016. Sloterdijk. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Devine, J.W., and C.J. Knight. 2017. Beyond ‘crude pragmatism’ in sports coaching: Insights from C.S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey: A commentary. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 12 (1): 35–37.
Elcombe, T., and J. Tracey. 2010. Strechted elastics, the Tour de France, and a meaningful life. In Cycling philosophy for everyone: A philosophical tour de force, ed. J. Ilundáin-Agurruza and M. Austin, 241–252. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Fusche Moe, V. 2014. The philosophy of sport and continental philosophy. In The Bloomsbury companion to the philosophy of sport, ed. C. Torres, 52–65. London: Bloomsbury.
Gezondheidsraad. 2017. Beweegrichtlijnen 2017. https://www.gezondheidsraad.nl/nl/taak-werkwijze/werkterrein/preventie/beweegrichtlijnen-2017. Accessed 23 Feb 2018.
Gorris, L., and D. Kurbjuweit. 2008. Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk on the Tour de France: ‘The riders are just regular employees.’ Der Spiegel Online International. http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/philosopher-peter-sloterdijk-on-the-tour-de-france-the-riders-are-just-regular-employees-a-565111.html Accessed 6 Mar 2012.
Heidegger, M. 1927/2008. Being and time. New York: Harper & Row.
———. 1947/1977. Letter on humanism. Basic writings. London: Routledge.
Heming, T. 2015. Join the club. 220 Triathlon March 2015: 78–79.
Hochstetler, D., and P. Hopsicker. 2012. The heights of humanity: Endurance sport and the strenuous mood. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 39 (1): 117–136.
———. 2016. Normative concerns for endurance athletes. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 43 (3): 335–349.
Ilundáin-Agurruza, J. 2014. William James—Pragmatic pioneer. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 8 (3): 258–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2014.981359.
James, W. 1890/2007. The principles of psychology, vol. I. New York: Cosimo Classics.
———.1899. What makes a life significant? http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/articles/jameslife–a.pdf.
———. 1901/1902. The varieties of religious experience. A study in human nature. https://worldu.edu/library/william_james_var.pdf. Accessed 5 Feb 2018.
———. 1907a. Pragmatism, an new name for some old ways of thinking. Popular lectures on philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co.
———. 1907b. The energies of man. The American magazine (reprint). https://archive.org/stream/energiesofmen00jameuoft/energiesofmen00jameuoft_djvu.txt. Accessed 5 Feb 2018.
Kahn, J. 2009. Divine discontent: The religious imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kretchmar, S.R. 1982. Distancing’: An essay on abstract thinking in sport performances. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 9: 6–18.
Loland, S. 1996. Outline of an ecosophy of sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 23: 70–90.
———. 2001. Record sports: An ecological critique and a reconstruction. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 28: 127–139.
———. 2006. Olympic sport and the ideal of sustainable development. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 33: 144–156.
Metrolyrics. 2013. The sound of music lyrics. http://www.metrolyrics.com/climb-every-mountain-lyrics-the-sound-of-music.html. Accessed 15 Apr 2018.
Moore, G.E. 1903. Principia ethica. http://fair-use.org/g-e-moore/principia-ethica. Accessed 16 Feb 2018.
Reid, H.L. 2017. Why Olympia matters for modern sport. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 44 (2): 159–173.
Sloterdijk, P. 1983/1987. Critique of cynical reason. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
———. 1999/2009. Rules for the human zoo. A response to the Letter on humanism. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 27: 12–28. https://rekveld.home.xs4all.nl/tech/Sloterdijk_RulesForTheHumanZoo.pdf. Accessed 5 Feb 2018.
———. 2009/2013. You must change your life – On anthropotechnics. Cambridge/Malden: Polity Press.
Spinney, J. 2006. A place of sense: A kinaesthetic ethnography of cyclists on Mont Ventoux. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 24: 709–732.
Tuncel, Y. 2013. Agon in Nietzsche. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.
Van den Bossche, M. 2005. De passie van Marc Van den Bossche: Wielrennen. Rotterdam: Lemniscaat.
Van de Poll, W. 2015. René Gude (1957–2015): “Ik ben echt niet bang voor de dood”. Trouw 14 March. https://www.trouw.nl/home/rene-gude-1957-2015-ik-ben-echt-niet-bang-voor-de-dood-~a2f1a2e5/. Accessed 17 Feb 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Welters, R. (2019). Continental Pragmatism: Enduring Life in the Strenuous Mood. In: Towards a Sustainable Philosophy of Endurance Sport . Library of Ethics and Applied Philosophy, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05294-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05294-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05293-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05294-2
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)