Fitness in Philosophy

In this episode James and Robby explore the connection between humility and fitness.

Humility is an admission of one's own limitations.

Fitness, by its very nature involves encountering one's own limitations in the physical world.

For example if someone can't do a pull-up or run 3 miles continuously that typically involves them eating a slice of humble-pie, in a good way.

In this episode they ask and try to answer the following questions about humility and its connection with fitness.

-Is fitness a means of achieving or furthering the virtue of humility in one’s own life?

-How does fitness teach humility?

-What are similarities and differences between physical humility (humility about one’s own physical capabilities) and intellectual humility?

- Every profession has its own share of arrogant jerks, but where does the fitness industry as a whole sit on the continuum of humility?

-How has social media and its gigantic intersection with fitness in the past 13 years affected the humility of fitness individuals and fitness coaches?

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In this episode James and Robby discuss the connection between ignorance and fitness.

In philosophy there is a very antagonistic relationship to ignorance. Philosophy (and science) are attempts in many ways eradicate as much ignorance as possible for as many people as possible

Different philosophical takes on ignorance include

-The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates)

-Neither is the examined one (MacIntyre-in response to Socrates)

-Better to be Socrates unsatisfied than an (ignorant) pig satisfied (Mill)

-“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” - Charles Darwin

But when it comes to fitness one has to ask what role ignorance should or should not play in it?

James and Robby ask and attempt to answer the following questions.

Does one need to have special knowledge (e.g., exercise science) to engage in fitness practices?

Can someone legitimately claim ignorance today about the factors that lead to optimal health and fitness today?

How does the claim that the unexamined life is not worth living apply to the life of fitness in particular?

How can/should ignorance be combatted in the modern world when it comes to fitness and health?

What responsibility do we have as fitness individuals to educate ourselves (eliminate ignorance) about proper fitness and health practices when those things are no longer our birthright?

How should the fact that we all die at some point inform our fitness journey? That is the central question of this episode.

There's almost a paradox when think of fitness and it's relation to death

On the one hand, ·for many who engage in health and fitness activities it involves a deep acknowledgement of the fundamental reality of the inevitability of death.

And yet, on the other hand, ·engaging in health and fitness activities ultimately involves trying to resist or delay death by any natural means possible.

In this episode, James and Robby discuss the following questions:

Is it wrong, problematic, irrational for us to engage in physical activities that actively work against longevity/sustainability and/or bring us closer to death sooner? (e.g., olympic lifting, powerlifting, etc.)

How should the fact we all die one day inform our fitness journey?

If technology ends up extending our lifespan another 50, 100, 200 years, how does that impact our health and fitness journeys?

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In this episode James and Robby discuss the question, "what do we owe the future?" and how does this relate to health and fitness?

When it comes to general life we want to leave people in the future with:

-a better overall world than the one we had

-a habitable planet

-an easier life (to a certain extent)

But when it comes to fitness and health unique questions arise when we ask "what do we owe the future" like:

-do we have a moral duty as a society to get rid of processed and junk foods?

-do we have a duty to not let life get to easy so we still have a connection fitness and our biology?

-how should schools and society be set up to best promote health and fitness for generations to come?

James and Robby explore these questions and their implications for health and fitness as we know it.

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There's a very real possibility that in the next 100 years what it means to be human will fundamentally change because of AI and robotics.

Yes, what it means to be human has changed throughout history but in terms of our basic biology it's been essentially the same for 10s of thousands of years.

Now it is poised to change significantly in the coming couple of centuries.

Biology is central to our health and fitness practices, so it stands to reason that if our biology changes our health and fitness outlook will change.

In this episode James and Robby explore the following questions related to this idea of "the last of the humans".

As we see it there are four main possible scenarios that humans will encounter in the next two centuries each with it's own unique implications for health and fitness.

Option #1: Complete Extinction:

-No biological human beings exist anymore. Think Terminator, only no humans are left at all.

Option #2: Human Beings Coexist with Machines:

-Genuine biological human beings coexist with “inorganic minds” (Think Star Trek, Halo, the Matrix, Blade Runner etc.)

Option #3: Human Beings merge with machines but still exist in a physical form

Think the Borg from Star Trek, Cable from X-Men, or Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Here there is still a physical human that has merged with some form of technology.

Option #4: Superintelligence

Think Joaquin Phoenix’s “Her” (sort of-humans still exist in that one). The idea here is biological humans are gone and our consciousness is purely digital 0s and 1s. There’s no “friction” with the physical world anymore. Immortality and freedom from “dependence on the body” has been achieved.

Obviously, every single one of these is a massive change from the world as we know it today.

James and Robby explore these scenarios and their implications for health and fitness as we know it.

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As Alasdair MacIntyre famously said, human beings are dependent rational animals.

The "dependent" part is significant.

We often fail to see how dependent we are on basic things like food, water, oxygen, social structure, etc.

We often crave independence from certain things, but the truth is that at a very deep and fundamental humans are dependent beings.

In this episode, where we focus on independence, James and Robby discuss the concept of independence and its relationship with fitness.

They ask and attempt to answer the following questions

-what is independence?

-how much independence are we really capable of as humans?

-with regard to fitness are we more independent if we don't utilize are coach or personal trainer?

-are we more independent beings if we don't rely on fitness apps and equipment?

-is the highest order goal of fitness independence/autonomy?

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As Alasdair MacIntyre famously said, human beings are dependent rational animals.

The "dependent" part is significant.

We often fail to see how dependent we are on basic things like food, water, oxygen, social structure, etc.

We often crave independence from certain things, but the truth is that at a very deep and fundamental humans are dependent beings.

In this episode James and Robby discuss the concept of dependence and its relationship with fitness.

They ask and attempt to answer the following questions

-what is dependence?

-is being dependent good, bad, or morally neutral? Does it depend on the context?

-is dependence binary or does it exist on a spectrum?

-have we become too dependent in fitness on coaches, apps, programs, etc.?

-what are appropriate forms of dependence in the health and wellness space? For example many of us depend on refrigeration, grocery stores, and appliances to make and eat healthy food?

-is the highest order goal of fitness independence/autonomy?

If you like the show, please leave us a review. They really do help.

Have any thoughts, comments or questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Want to purchase Fitness in Philosophy T-Shirts? You can purchase them from the following link.

https://www.teepublic.com/user/fitness-in-philosophy·

In this episode, James and Robby explore the connection between the philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre, and more specifically his book "After Virtue", and its connection with fitness.

In his book "After Virtue" MacIntyre asks us to imagine there was some sort of catastrophe by which all of our scientific knowledge came to be destroyed.

Eventually enlightened people try to restore that knowledge but all they have are fragments of the past.

For example they know objects near the surface of the Earth fall at 9.8m/s2 but they don’t know the why behind it (gravity)

MacIntyre argues that we are in exactly this situation with regard to the language of morality these days.

In this situation what we call modern morality or ethics is divorced from the original intention of morality where the idea was to achieve the highest good one could in this life through being virtuous.

How does this connect to fitness?

We're actually in a very similar situation with regard to fitness knowledge currently.

All we have is fragments of "cardio", "strength", or "vegetables contain fiber" without an overarching framework to unite all those pieces.

Although in this case of fitness this overarching framework to unite everything, namely evolutionary biology, does exist few people recognize and follow through with the true implications of it.

MacIntyre also argues that the way forward in this type of world for morality is small monastic communities that are "defenders of the faith" so to speak.

Similarly with fitness there are small enclaves of people who fight for the "vitality" model of fitness and use evolutionary biology to guide it.

If you like the show, please leave us a review. They really do help.

Have any thoughts, comments or questions? You can email us at [email protected]

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Most people would agree that things like rocks, tables, chairs, the sun, and oceans are all real.

By real here, we mean something like: these things would exist even if humans didn't exist.

But what about social reality?

What about things that depend on humanity for their existence and yet have real power and influence?

Here are some examples

-Money

-The presidency of the United States

-Laws

-The existence of nation states

Take money for example. There's no inherent value or meaning to green pieces of paper (at least in the US) outside the meaning and value that humans have made up.

And yet, this doesn't mean it's imaginary either. A person with 1000 green pieces of paper with $100 printed on it wields a considerable amount of actual monetary power in the world.

Similarly, if humans didn't exist and have societies there would be no such concept or thing as "President of the United States',

And yet, even though humans made it up the person holding that office wields a considerable amount of power.

In this episode James and Robby discuss social reality and fitness. They ask and attempt to answer the following questions

-What is social reality?

-Why is it so important to the world we live in today?

-How do social reality and physical reality bump up against each other in fitness?

-What about things like points and prizes for fitness which don't have any reality outside of a social context?

-There's no movement such as "the Russian Kettlebell Swing" outside of human societal conventions and yet there are objective facts about how humans should hinge their hips, etc.

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Reality is one of the central concepts in philosophy.

In fact, one of the most fundamental questions in philosophy is, "What is real?".

Philosophers are very frequently trying to distinguish appearance from reality.

Fitness provides one of the most direct forms of access to the external world/reality in terms of directly sensing the world around us.

Fitness can also provide a direct "reality-check" to what we believe to be true about of ourselves in terms of our physical capabilities. That "reality-check" can serve as an inspiration to get better.

In this episode James and Robby ask, and attempt to answer the following questions.

What is reality?

How does reality "hit" or "push back" against what we believe to be true?

Is fitness and physical expression one of the best ways of gaining access to reality?

What lessons do we learn as people from confronting physical realities like "I can't do a pull-up" or "I can't a mile? Can these be sources of motivation and inspiration?

In a world on the brink of augmented and virtual reality encroaching on the fitness world, what does it mean to engage in "real" fitness?

Have any thoughts, comments or questions? You can email us at [email protected]

Want to purchase Fitness in Philosophy T-Shirts? You can purchase them from the following link.

https://www.teepublic.com/user/fitness-in-philosophy·