Fitness in Philosophy

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?

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.

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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]

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

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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.

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

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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·

Habits are central to both philosophy and fitness.

As far back as the Ancient Greeks, Aristotle famously said

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act, but a habit."

Aristotle in this particular case is talking about virtue, but the point applies equally well to other parts of life, especially health and fitness.

One could argue that habits are the central determining factor in success in health and fitness. Here's an example to illustrate the point.

Take two people one of whom grew up in a home based on ancestral principles and habits of sleeping at the right times, eating the right foods, moving their body, etc., but they have no scientific knowledge of nutrition science, exercise physiology, etc.

Now, take another person who has all the knowledge in the world about nutrition, exercise physiology, etc., but who did not grow up knowing how to properly move his body, cook food, sleep at the right times. In fact that person grew up with negative habits eating junk food, not moving, sleeping too late, etc.

Which person has the better chance of being healthy?

Is it even a question?

Of course, it's person 1.

This example shows just how important habits are for health and fitness.

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

-How can health and fitness habits make us better people?

-Why are health and fitness habits the most important to cultivate compared to professional or financial habits?

-Why is the health and fitness industry obsessed with short term outcomes as opposed to long-term habits?

-How are thoughts and feeling related to habits?

-Why short cuts don't work when it comes to habits?

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·

Most of our life, technology, and progress is centered around the idea of making life easier.

Think about things like Door Dash, sleeping pills, and self-driving cars.

But a central question that comes up is: Is an easier life necessarily a better life?

It seems that as humans we're hard-wired to need some difficulty, challenge, or struggle to live a full and meaningful life.

In this episode James and Robby discuss the extent to which ease and difficulty play a role in fitness and our lives in general. They ask and attempt to answer questions like:

-In a world where things have become so "easy" that it's actually "difficult" to lead a healthy life, how do we get back to healthy living?

-Even if we wanted to we can't mimic the struggles of the past, so what we should do in the modern world to have some difficulty or challenge?

-Should the purpose of fitness be to "rake ourselves over the coals" so to speak on a daily basis with overwhelming challenges?

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·

Beauty in philosophy is considered one of the ultimately values like justice, truth, knowledge, and goodness.

One of the central goals of most people in engaging in fitness is to look better, or to cultivate physical beauty.

In this episode James and Robby ask and give their answer the following questions

What makes beauty worth pursuing?

Is beauty just "appearance" that hides a deeper "reality"

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder (subjective) or out there in the world? (objective)

How does the modern fitness industry influence standards of beauty?

How closely are physical fitness, evolution and natural beauty tied to one another?

Can obsessive pursuit of (external) beauty via extreme forms of fitness make us (internally) ugly?

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·