Physical Education and the “Two Cultures” Debate: Lessons from Dr. Leavis

Abstract

This article revisits the famous “two cultures” debate between F.R. Leavis and C.P. Snow, with a view to examining its relevance to the academic field of physical education. Snow, in his 1959 lecture, lamented the “gulf of mutual incomprehension” that had developed within the education system between the sciences and the humanities. In hostile response, Leavis contended that Snow.s lecture did little more than unreasonably promote the sciences over the humanities. Our article looks at how the sciences and humanities have coexisted within the interdisciplinary domain of physical education in the modern university. We advocate the need for a humanistic approach extending across the sciences and the humanities and social sciences. Relatedly, drawing on the ideas of Leavis, we conclude by contemplating the possibility of a common “creative front” within physical education to the mutual benefit of science and the humanities.