TY - JOUR
T1 - Scylla and Charybdis: the Purist's Dilemma
AU - CULBERTSON, LEON
PY - 2016/5/2
Y1 - 2016/5/2
N2 - This paper explores the view that, on Mumford’s account of the purist, to the degree that the purist adopts an aesthetic perspective, he or she doesn’t watch the sport in question, and to the degree that he or she does watch the sport, there is a loss of aesthetic appreciation. The idea that spectators oscillate between partisanship and purism means that the purist is unable to avoid either the Scylla of not actually watching the sport, or the Charybdis of loss of aesthetic appreciation at any given point. Ultimately there seems to be both a sport-shaped hole and an aesthetic-shaped hole in Mumford’s account of the purist.It is argued that oscillation is incapable of dealing with the problem precisely because it is disjunctive in nature and entails the spectator either watching sport from an aesthetic perspective or from a partisan perspective at any given time. An alternative conception of the aesthetic is considered that offers one way of dissolving the purist’s dilemma.
AB - This paper explores the view that, on Mumford’s account of the purist, to the degree that the purist adopts an aesthetic perspective, he or she doesn’t watch the sport in question, and to the degree that he or she does watch the sport, there is a loss of aesthetic appreciation. The idea that spectators oscillate between partisanship and purism means that the purist is unable to avoid either the Scylla of not actually watching the sport, or the Charybdis of loss of aesthetic appreciation at any given point. Ultimately there seems to be both a sport-shaped hole and an aesthetic-shaped hole in Mumford’s account of the purist.It is argued that oscillation is incapable of dealing with the problem precisely because it is disjunctive in nature and entails the spectator either watching sport from an aesthetic perspective or from a partisan perspective at any given time. An alternative conception of the aesthetic is considered that offers one way of dissolving the purist’s dilemma.
KW - aesthetics
KW - partisan and purist
KW - sport spectatorship
KW - Aesthetics
UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17511321.2016.1177850
U2 - 10.1080/17511321.2016.1177850
DO - 10.1080/17511321.2016.1177850
M3 - Article (journal)
SN - 1751-1321
VL - 10
SP - 175
EP - 196
JO - Sport, Ethics and Philosophy
JF - Sport, Ethics and Philosophy
IS - 2
ER -