An introduction to the study on sport philosophy by Hans Lenk

His fundamental conception and approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the fundamental conception of sport philosophy proposed by Hans Lenk. The main feature of his sport philosophy is pluralism in which the complex social phenomena are interpreted from various points of view by integrating several independent factors. He takes a pluralistic approach to solve the issues of sport philosophy. Lenk criticizes the preceding philosophical interpretations of sport in two ways, that is, in only individualistic interpretation and in simple social philosophy. Paul Weiss, for example, has focused only on athletes in his individualistic philosophical interpretation. Lenk points out a deficiency of social viewpoint in the approach of Weiss. He also mentions the social philosophical interpretation of sport, and states that in this interpretation of sport philosophy the notion of an individual is not so concrete. It is because the individual described in this approach is not a human being that exists in his own way but a human being that exists among the public. As a result he asserts that it is necessary to integrate these two kinds of approaches. Lenk stated in 1985 that we had not had a sport philosophy yet. This does not mean his ideological denial of sport. His comprehensive conception of sport philosophy let him say such a statement. His perspective is not to make a denial of that kind or to praise sport, but to regard sport as a subject of his own philosophy. Since sport influences us on a large scale, it should be a subject of philosophy like art, religion and science.