The Ontology of the Sporting Human Being – Prof Gunnar Breivik (Pt1) – Meaningful Sport Series

What kind of being is the sporting human being? For Professor Gunnar Breivik, a human being is the homo movens and the homo ludens: a playful and active being that explores the world and its own possibilities. Our guest explains key ideas in Heidegger's work in Being and Time while also arguing that the ways of ‘worldmaking’ disclosed in sport are more ontologically diverse than Heidegger's classic text opened up for.

We explore the four constitutive relations identified by our guest (‘I-Me’, ‘I-You’, ‘I-Society’ and ‘I-Nature’) and their typical manifestations in sport.

And finally, we explore what kind of 'things' are 'meaning' and 'meaningful life' in Heidegger's work.

Gunnar Breivik is Professor Emeritus in Sport Social Sciences at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, where he was Rector of the School 1999-2005. His pioneering work in philosophy of sport over several decades has covered a range of areas including studies of intentionality, knowledge, skills, and other aspects of human experience and action in sport. Moreover, he has conducted many empirical studies in sport and physical activity from psychological and sociological perspectives, including studies on personality in high-risk sports.