Abstract
A paradoxical attitude exists toward professional philosophy: philosophical inquiry is considered important and complex, but professionals are deemed irrelevant and unnecessary. This paradox doubly affects sport philosophy as evidenced by the field’s marginalization in higher education and sociopolitical discourse. To counter the sport philosophy paradox, I present a pragmatically oriented three-dimensional approach to inquiry that turns the field “inside-out”. A community of engaged, melioratively oriented sport philosophy inquirers in this 3D model collectively conducts theoretical (horizontal dimension), applied (vertical dimension), and instrumental (depth dimension) inquiry. Each dimension is outlined in detail from a professional sport philosophy perspective, and implications are considered relative to the field’s future endeavors.
Notes
1. Rorty’s essay, completed in the early 1960s and first published in 2009, serves as a useful starting point and resource in the development of the 3D model of sport philosophy inquiry. However, the 3D model is not meant to represent Rorty’s views on the whole—I do not, in other words, set out to get Rorty ‘right’. This selective use of Rorty to create a new vision for sport philosophy inquiry is faithful to the spirit of Rorty who regularly ‘used’ the works of others (i.e. Davidson, Heidegger) as he saw fit to craft new narratives.