The Necessity of Philosophy in the Exercise Sciences

Matthew Hickson

doi:10.3390/philosophies4030045

Abstract

The pervasive and often uncritical acceptance of materialistic philosophical commitments within exercise science is deeply problematic. This commitment to materialism is wrong for several reasons. Among the most important are that it ushers in fallacious metaphysical assumptions regarding the nature of causation and the nature of human beings. These mistaken philosophical commitments are key because the belief that only matter is real severely impedes the exercise scientist’s ability to accurately understand or deal with human beings, whether as subjects of study or as data points to be interpreted. One example of materialist metaphysics is the assertion that all causation is physical- one lever moving another lever, one atom striking another atom, one brain state leading to another (Kretchmer, 2005). In such a world, human life is reduced to action and reaction, stimulus and response and as a result, the human being disappears. As such, a deterministic philosophy is detrimental to kinesiologists’ attempts to interpret and understand human behavior, for a materialistic philosophy, must ignore or explain away human motivation, human freedom and ultimately culture itself. In showing how mistaken these philosophic commitments are, I will focus on the sub-discipline of sport psychology for most examples, as that is the field of exercise science of which I am paradigmatically most familiar. It is also the field, when rightly understood that straddles the “two cultures” in kinesiology (i.e., the sciences and the humanities). In referencing the dangers of the materialistic conception of human beings for sport psychology, I will propose, that the materialist’s account of the natural world, causation and human beings stems from the unjustified and unnecessary rejection by the founders of modern science of the Aristotelian picture of the world (Feser, 2012). One reason that this mechanistic point of view, concerning human reality has gained ground in kinesiology is as a result of a previous philosophic commitment to quantification. As philosopher Doug Anderson (2002) has pointed out, many kinesiologists believe that shifting the discipline in the direction of mathematics and science would result in enhanced academic credibility. Moreover, given the dominance of the scientific narrative in our culture it makes it very difficult for us not to conform to it. That is, as Twietmeyer (2015) argued, kinesiologists do not just reject non-materialistic philosophic conceptions of the field, we are oblivious to their possibility. Therefore, I will propose two things; first, Aristotelian philosophy is a viable alternative to materialistic accounts of nature and causation and second, that Aristotle’s holistic anthropology is an important way to wake kinesiologists from their self-imposed philosophic slumber.

Highlights

This paper will argue that philosophy is necessary in order to be a good exercise scientist. often unconscious and largely unacknowledged by exercise scientists, materialism is the prevailing philosophy in the field
I will propose two things; first, Aristotelian philosophy is a viable alternative to materialistic accounts of nature and causation and second, that Aristotle’s holistic anthropology is an important way to wake kinesiologists from their self-imposed philosophic slumber
To the extent that the exercise scientists buys into materialist arguments such as these, it calls into question the ethical soundness of their practice and research, as well as its supposed truth in terms of application to the lived experience of human beings

Summary

Introduction

This paper will argue that philosophy is necessary in order to be a good exercise scientist. Often unconscious and largely unacknowledged by exercise scientists, materialism is the prevailing philosophy in the field. In taking the view that nature is inert and external to particular beings it must follow that human life is devoid of any inherent purpose or goal-directedness. To the extent that the exercise scientists buys into materialist arguments such as these, it calls into question the ethical soundness of their practice and research, as well as its supposed truth in terms of application to the lived experience of human beings. I will propose Aristotelian philosophy as a viable alternative for exercise science and the perfect antidote to the problems posed by materialism. Most I will draw upon Aristotle’s argument for anthropological holism and his anti-mechanistic, materialistic accounts of nature and causation

Refuting Materialistic Accounts of Nature

Examining Accounts of Causation

Holism and Waking Exercise Scientists from Their “Philosophic Slumber”