Sports are an indissoluble interweaving of mind and body. They express our constitution as intelligent bodily beings. Anyone who has ever hit a decent serve in tennis knows that mind and body are unified in that (sublime) moment. Sport expresses our nature, it bears upon our self-realization. If a happy life consists in one that expresses fully our natural faculties, then sports must play an essential role in the happy life. This book is about the human love of sport.Written in the form of a memoir, Colin McGinn discusses all the main sports he has engaged in: everything from pole-vaulting and gymnastics, to windsurfing and tennis. He describes the athletic experience from the inside, articulating what is uniquely valuable about sport as an activity. Mind - body unity, practical knowledge, peak experiences, success and failure, the ethics of competition, fitness and death - all these are woven into the story of an athletic life. It is also sport seen from the perspective of a philosopher. McGinn is able to put our passion for sport into the right conceptual perspective, bringing intellect and body inextricably together.
