Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/m...eau-review

EXCERPT: David Papineau is an eminent philosopher and a passionate lover of sport. For much of his life, he has kept the two spheres separate, fearing that to mix them would produce a double diminishment: philosophy robbed of its seriousness and sport of its excitement. Then, in 2012, a colleague invited him to contribute to a lecture series titled “Philosophy and Sport”, organised to coincide with that year’s Olympics. “I couldn’t really refuse,” Papineau recalls. “I had an extensive knowledge of both philosophy and sport. If I wasn’t going to say yes, who would?”

For his topic, he chose the role of conscious thought in fast-reaction sports, such as tennis, cricket and baseball. How, he wondered, does Rafael Nadal use anything other than “automatic reflexes” in the half-second (or less) he has to return Roger Federer’s serve? How does he choose to hit the ball this way or that, to apply topspin or slice? Thinking about this not only proved “great fun”, but allowed Papineau to come away with a series of “substantial philosophical conclusions” about the relationship between intentions and action.

After this, the floodgates were open. Having breached his self-imposed apartheid, Papineau set about applying his philosopher’s brain to a range of other sporting topics. Five years on, those inquiries have resulted in a book. Knowing the Score is essentially a collection of essays on whatever sporting questions happen to interest its author. It isn’t comprehensive, nor does it advance an overarching argument. The tone – informal, anecdotal, contrarian – is more bar-room than high table. What unifies the book is the consistency of its approach: he isn’t interested only in applying philosophical ideas and principles to sport. More importantly – and more originally – he wants to use arguments about sport as a launching pad into philosophy....

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There's also the philosophical ethical question of sports that results in injuries and brain damage. It's a sad state of affairs that the advancement of civilization progressively tears away the common man's favorite pasttimes, leaving him with little to do but watch TV, drink, and surf porn on the internet. Hunting, war, beauty pageants, smoking, hazing, sexual harrassment, dog fighting, bigoted hatespeech, and now violent sports are all falling by the wayside, leaving the common man little more than a drunken waste of otherwise useful protoplasm when he's not working his ass off. But hell, we now know football players suffer permanent brain damage that catches up with them years later. Should we support this billion dollar industry of making meat puppets out of atheletes? It's a question that requires introspection and soul searching and perhaps even heroic self-sacrifice.

That's why I golf MR. I'm outdoors, not busting heads, not using PED's, not watching porn. Nope, just me alone in my thoughts, all the while trying to master a very difficult game. Doesn't matter if I play alone or with someone, it's always me against myself. Despite the frustration aspect of the game, I don't throw my clubs by the way, one can always gain a sense of accomplishment by simply hitting a good shot. Just knowing it is possible, although highly unlikely, that I could by way of a modern miracle play perfectly is enough for me to keep coming back. Best part is that you and your significant other can play together and not worry about skill level because in golf we don't laugh at other's struggles because we're all used to failure on the course. That's it isn't it? Recognizing no one is perfect, especially one's self.