Recovering the World: Varieties of Philosophical Experience

Abstract

Philosophical issues are at the core of leisure studies and have gained increasing attention. Unfamiliarity with contemporary discussions of philosophic activity, however, limits the effectiveness of teaching and study of these issues. Two contrasting approaches to philosophy, the Platonic and the historicist, are outlined here, along with their consequences for the philosophical analysis of leisure. Adopting the historicist approach, this essay suggests means by which students may become more fully engaged in exploring the philosophical aspects of leisure. Biographical Information J. L Hemingway is Assistant Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the Recreation and Leisure Studies Program at Washington State University. He received his doctorate in political science, specializing in political philosophy, from the University of Iowa, where he also received a master’s degree in recreation. The author may be contacted at the Recreation and Leisure Studies Program, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-1410. The philosophic analysis of leisure raises fundamental questions, ranging from the interpretation of classic texts through the role of freedom in leisure to the provision of services to various publics. Such questions require treatment not only in professional journals and meetings, but in the classroom as well. Accreditation standards for recreation and leisure study curricula call for study of the philosophical foundations of leisure. This can, and should,. recur throughout the curriculum, particularly in light of the national debate on curriculum reform and content (see, e.g., Boyer, 1987, esp. ch. 7: Wilshire, 1990). Nowhere are these questions more pressing than in students’ attempts to answer questions about the human meaning and value of leisure. Such meaning has ethical, political, civic. and aesthetic dimensions; the very advocacy of leisure has distinctly valuational tones. accentuated by the dominance of work and economically grounded values in our society. A philosophical thread can thus be seen to run through leisure studies, for questions of the types suggested above are most, and perhaps only, approachable through philosophic inquiry. Few of us in leisure studies have, however, been trained in philosophical thinking. This is not where the field finds its roots currently, despite regular appeals to the ancient philosophic heritage of the concepts of leisure. play, and recreation. Difficulties can thus arise when we confront philosophic questions or attempt to bring our students to some understanding of the philosophic implications of leisure in contempo