Ep 13 - Idleness, Play and Sport

It sure seems to me like more and more writers and thinkers these days are praising the value and virtues of idleness. In our current era defined by such problems as the hollowing of social welfare programs and digital technology's seeming uncompromising power over people's everyday activities and work habits, more writers and thinkers are calling for a renewed, nuanced discussion of idleness as a healthy, humanist, virtuous endeavor. Though idleness probably seems like a strange topic choice for a podcast dedicated to sport, physical activities and the "active body". Yet, it is time to re-think our assumptions of inactivity as they undergird our assumptions activity, work, and productivity. We should consider the possibility that idleness may constitute not only an important element of a future ecologically sustainable society, but an important, neglected form of human freedom. This episode is about idleness and its relation to sport and play. We interviewed Dr. Brian O'Connor, Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin, and discuss his recent book Idleness: A Philosophical Essay, in which he examines notions of idleness as they were articulated in the texts of famous Western philosophers like Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. The episode centers on our interview with Prof. O'Connor, and highlights his understanding of idleness and its potentially relation to physical activities like play and sport.