With sport you can do philosophy

Over the last few weeks we have witnessed a sequence of football finals, unfortunately all lost: Roma, Fiorentina and Inter in the European cups, our Azzurrini in the final of the U20 World Cup. Then we witnessed two dramatic play-offs, one to stay and the other to go to Serie A, both decided in a daring way. Competitively exciting contexts, in the cruelty of the intertwining of (sports) dramas and joys. In short, we have seen tears of happiness and frustration that should be taken, as Rudyard Kipling suggested in his famous poem If, with philosophy. You will become a man, wrote Kipling, “if you can confront Triumph and Ruin and treat these two imposters equally.”

Let’s try it with the help of two wonderful books, which share a brilliant and somewhat bizarre starting idea: to demonstrate how sport is a very powerful tool to talk about philosophy, the mysteries of life, to question ourselves in the face of the big questions. The first is of Salvatore Colletta Drago, Chronicle of philosophy in 90 minutes … plus recovery (Serradifalco publisher, 2022). Diogene Laerzum (alter ego of Bruno Pizzul who writes the preface of this book) and Beppe Bergamon (here the reference is clear!) are the two commentators of the most philosophical match in history, which will take place there before your eyes, disputed by protagonists who are real top-players. At the two ends the two goalkeepers: Being and Nothing. In the middle, on the field, Thales, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche just to name the most representative. A fun book that has an essential feature: to make the reader (we like to emphasize especially the young reader) want to deepen themes and subjects that usually sound boring or distant. It is a gesture of generosity that of Salvatore Colletta Drago, as well as love for philosophy and, of course, for football. The language is always pleasant, captivating, the metaphors spot on, the footnotes very useful for anyone who wants to be intrigued. Without hypocrisy, there are also the fans, who sometimes dedicate trivial maxims to some of the protagonists such as that “Cchiù longa è a Pinsata cchiù grossa è a Minchiata” that someone yells at Socrates, amid applause. In short, get out of your prejudice and, especially if you teach philosophy in a high school, like the author, read and spread: it will be very useful!

The second work is by Guido Mena di Sospiro, The metaphysics of ping-pong. Table tennis as a journey of self-discovery (Ultra, 2023). The sporting discipline changes, but not the purpose: table tennis, the author’s infinite, almost obsessive passion, becomes the leitmotiv to think about great metaphysical and philosophical themes. A real initiatory journey, during which the author is confronted with SunTzu, Jung, Aristotle, Bob Dylan or with the composer Arnold Schönberg, a refugee in Hollywood to escape the Nazis who went around with, inside the violin case , a ping-pong racket he used to challenge his neighbor, George Gershwin. Among the many interesting things in this book there is a constant relationship with materials: smooth, dotted, sandwich, glue rubbers become the gateway to describe categories of the spirit and catalog players and men, as in the beautiful chapter in which confront metaphysicians and empiricists. It doesn’t always happen, but in this case the book, which is also very well written, becomes a source of inspiration, so much so that someone ventured: “This book is for table tennis what Open is for tennis”. In short, dispassionate advice: let yourself be fascinated by the pages of these two authors and you will really discover how sport is an extraordinary, I would say irreplaceable, magnifying glass!