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Papers by Randolph Feezell
Faith, Freedom, and Value
Dialogue One: What is Philosophy?
Faith, Freedom, and Value, 2019
Dialogue Three: Order and Evil
Faith, Freedom, and Value, 2019
Experimental Phenomenology
New Scholasticism, 1981
The Meaning of Life
Teaching Philosophy, 1981
Of Mice and Men
The Modern Schoolman, 1984
The Modern Schoolman, 1983
Sport: Pursuit of Bodily Excellence or Play?
The Modern Schoolman, 1981
The Play of the World. By James S. Hans
The Modern Schoolman, 1983
The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 1987
Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy, 1979
Introducing the Existentialists
Teaching Philosophy, 1982
Experience as Art
Teaching Philosophy, 1984
Sport, Play, and Ethical Reflection
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2007
The author of this book notes that ‘The sporting world offers to many people the context of their... more The author of this book notes that ‘The sporting world offers to many people the context of their hopes, the locus of their momentary reprieve from a burdensome reality, or the repository for the only kind of heroism that they can appreciate at this moment in history’ (p. 5). Assuming Feezell is correct here, the question arises: how can we account for these facts philosophically? Feezell responds to this question by claiming that sport is a type of play, albeit competitive play. In contrast to Paul Weiss’s view of sport as pursuit of bodily excellence, Feezell urges the following: ‘As a [Weissian] spectator, it might be difficult to believe that the sweating, straining faces of pick-up basketball players express some deep sense of enjoyment and identification; but from the standpoint of the lived experience of the players, there is little doubt about this point’ (23). This book is written by a professional philosopher, hence the intended audience is philosophers. But the work is both nuanced and clear, hence the scope of the author’s audience ranges from other professional philosophers to beginning philosophy students. In that the author is from the USA, most of his examples are from sports that are popular in that country, but this should not prevent readers from other parts of the world appreciating Feezell’s line of reasoning. There are two main parts of the book, one theoretical and the other practical. The theoretical part of the book is an attempt to particularise the Homo Ludens hypothesis to sport. It will be remembered that Johan Huizinga’s famous book dealt with play in general, and treated sport, in particular, only tangentially. As before, Feezell tries to distinguish his view from Weiss’s stance that sees sport as the pursuit of bodily excellence. Feezell is more congenial, however, to the view that sport is a type of liberating play, with ‘liberation’ understood in terms of Frithjof Bergmann’s concept of freedom. The free will v. determinism debate is not what is at stake here. Rather, in sport one is liberated from the burdens of life in that one identifies strongly with the competitive activity found in sport. Perhaps the greatest theoretical achievement of the book is its defence of a Thomas Nagel-like (rather than an Albert Camus-like) view of sport, indeed life, as absurd (or better, in order to avoid confusion with popular uses of ‘absurd’, as ironic). As Feezell insightfully puts the point regarding what he sees as the fundamental philosophic problem in sport: ‘At the heart of sport is the ambivalent recognition that sport is both serious and nonserious, real and unreal, authentic and pretend, essential and superfluous’ (31). For Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Vol. 1, No. 3, December 2007
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2013
Mikel Dufrenne and the World of the Aesthetic Object
Philosophy Today, 1980
Critique de la conception de M. Dufrenne du monde qu'exprime l'objet esthetique. L'A.... more Critique de la conception de M. Dufrenne du monde qu'exprime l'objet esthetique. L'A. analyse la notion d'expression, ce qui est necessaire si l'on veut comprendre comment un monde peut etre exprime par l'objet esthetique.
Sport, the Aesthetic, and Narrative
Philosophy Today, 1995
Play and the Absurd
Philosophy Today, 1984
The Aesthetic Attitude Debate: Some Remarks on Saxena, Coleman, and a Phenomenological Approach to the Issue
Philosophy East and West, 1980
Thinking About the Aesthetic Attitude
Philosophical Topics, 1985
Faith, Freedom, and Value
Dialogue One: What is Philosophy?
Faith, Freedom, and Value, 2019
Dialogue Three: Order and Evil
Faith, Freedom, and Value, 2019
Experimental Phenomenology
New Scholasticism, 1981
The Meaning of Life
Teaching Philosophy, 1981
Of Mice and Men
The Modern Schoolman, 1984
The Modern Schoolman, 1983
Sport: Pursuit of Bodily Excellence or Play?
The Modern Schoolman, 1981
The Play of the World. By James S. Hans
The Modern Schoolman, 1983
The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 1987
Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy, 1979
Introducing the Existentialists
Teaching Philosophy, 1982
Experience as Art
Teaching Philosophy, 1984
Sport, Play, and Ethical Reflection
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2007
The author of this book notes that ‘The sporting world offers to many people the context of their... more The author of this book notes that ‘The sporting world offers to many people the context of their hopes, the locus of their momentary reprieve from a burdensome reality, or the repository for the only kind of heroism that they can appreciate at this moment in history’ (p. 5). Assuming Feezell is correct here, the question arises: how can we account for these facts philosophically? Feezell responds to this question by claiming that sport is a type of play, albeit competitive play. In contrast to Paul Weiss’s view of sport as pursuit of bodily excellence, Feezell urges the following: ‘As a [Weissian] spectator, it might be difficult to believe that the sweating, straining faces of pick-up basketball players express some deep sense of enjoyment and identification; but from the standpoint of the lived experience of the players, there is little doubt about this point’ (23). This book is written by a professional philosopher, hence the intended audience is philosophers. But the work is both nuanced and clear, hence the scope of the author’s audience ranges from other professional philosophers to beginning philosophy students. In that the author is from the USA, most of his examples are from sports that are popular in that country, but this should not prevent readers from other parts of the world appreciating Feezell’s line of reasoning. There are two main parts of the book, one theoretical and the other practical. The theoretical part of the book is an attempt to particularise the Homo Ludens hypothesis to sport. It will be remembered that Johan Huizinga’s famous book dealt with play in general, and treated sport, in particular, only tangentially. As before, Feezell tries to distinguish his view from Weiss’s stance that sees sport as the pursuit of bodily excellence. Feezell is more congenial, however, to the view that sport is a type of liberating play, with ‘liberation’ understood in terms of Frithjof Bergmann’s concept of freedom. The free will v. determinism debate is not what is at stake here. Rather, in sport one is liberated from the burdens of life in that one identifies strongly with the competitive activity found in sport. Perhaps the greatest theoretical achievement of the book is its defence of a Thomas Nagel-like (rather than an Albert Camus-like) view of sport, indeed life, as absurd (or better, in order to avoid confusion with popular uses of ‘absurd’, as ironic). As Feezell insightfully puts the point regarding what he sees as the fundamental philosophic problem in sport: ‘At the heart of sport is the ambivalent recognition that sport is both serious and nonserious, real and unreal, authentic and pretend, essential and superfluous’ (31). For Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Vol. 1, No. 3, December 2007
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2013
Mikel Dufrenne and the World of the Aesthetic Object
Philosophy Today, 1980
Critique de la conception de M. Dufrenne du monde qu'exprime l'objet esthetique. L'A.... more Critique de la conception de M. Dufrenne du monde qu'exprime l'objet esthetique. L'A. analyse la notion d'expression, ce qui est necessaire si l'on veut comprendre comment un monde peut etre exprime par l'objet esthetique.
Sport, the Aesthetic, and Narrative
Philosophy Today, 1995
Play and the Absurd
Philosophy Today, 1984
The Aesthetic Attitude Debate: Some Remarks on Saxena, Coleman, and a Phenomenological Approach to the Issue
Philosophy East and West, 1980
Thinking About the Aesthetic Attitude
Philosophical Topics, 1985