The philosophical world

Steven Connor’s take on the philosophy of sport is a revealing journey into the true workings of the sporting mind.

The notion of the philosophy in sport is one fired around by coaches, fans, players and pundits alike, but all too often we’re happy enough to let the phrase do the talking, without properly exploring what basis we give to what might also be described as the unwritten rule of competitive understanding.

To properly appreciate what goes into representing the frame of competition, we have to first explore where sport’s roots truly originate from, and Steven Connor’s understanding of this is better than any I’ve read previously. He judges ethics, aesthetics and logical categorisation in attempting to define what sport truly means, and why it is, as human beings, we have an appreciation of these most playful exercises.

Connor looks at the development of sport over time, and how its fit with the socio-political and economic values of this and past eras offers intriguing clues into why our obsession carries through generations. Indeed, the author comes to the conclusion that sport isn’t just a method by which we express ourselves in terms of pastimes and hobbies; it’s actually a necessity of our lives, an investment that, for 99% of the population of the world, fuels a passion and investment in competition. Without it, in fact, Connor ponders how and where we would channel such large deposits of energy and aggression. He surmises the fact that sport is shown to be one of the most powerful ways in which we negotiate the relationship between the human and natural worlds.

A Philosophy of Sport also uses the philosophical research of Hegel, Freud, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Adorno, Sartre and others in presenting a landscape for how we feel today and, as importantly, how we should control and manage our passion for competition.

A soccer coach taking charge of a group of Under-9s on a Saturday morning may ask how relevant A Philosophy of Sport is to the core sensibilities of passing, dribbling and running. But the real ‘take out value’ of this book is in the way it encourages the reader to appreciate and react to the emotions and the decision-making that influences so much of soccer, no matter the age of the subjects or the standard of their play.

A good coach will know the thoughts and emotions that flood footballers’ minds both during and after a game. So appreciating why players behave the way they do, and how such feelings come tied to the same historical foundations as those sportsmen who had expressed them before, means we can manage and educate them to perform better... not only on the football pitch, but in their everyday lives as well. 

A philosophy of sport, Steven Connor.