My T/TH philosophy class has gotten me thinking:
Is triathlon a means or an end? You can answer for personal experience, or argue about sport as a whole.
Personally I can see plenty of evidence for both, and think it’s somewhere in the middle–I start to feel like the sport has a flawed role in my life when it takes on a role closer to either of the two extremes (means/end).
Ready, go.
Hmmm…?
Jesus, only a triathlete would obsses enough about his hobby to ponder and pontificate about it this much. Go get laid or something.
What you see depends on where you sit…
Go get laid or something.
Is that a mean or an end?
Jesus, only a triathlete would obsses enough about his hobby to ponder and pontificate about it this much. Go get laid or something.
Not sure about everyone else, but I put my workouts around getting laid. It’s not one or the other. But, I would not let workouts interfere with getting laid.
So… I take it your class is currently studying Immanuel Kant’s ethical theories on moral action?
Lol - is this gonna turn into Good Will Hunting…
Kant comes later according to the syllabus. Right we’re reading Hume.
Either way I’m thoroughly disappointed in ST’s answers. Real mature everybody.
To the guy that alluded that triathlon was merely a hobby, I would have to ask how he would explain the multitudes of people (amateur athletes) that spend more time training than they do working, or with their family, etc.
To the guy that alluded that triathlon was merely a hobby, I would have to ask how he would explain the multitudes of people (amateur athletes) that spend more time training than they do working, or with their family, etc.
There aren’t many amateur athletes that spend 40+ hours per week training on a regular basis. If your question is just about “how can it be a hobby if you spend lots of time doing it?”, I’d say that is pretty much the definition of hobby. It’s something to do when not working and not doing other obligations.
My contribution to philosophy: Triathlon is a sport. Those who do it find it fun to do. It is fun to train. It is fun to buy shiny baubles to put on the bike.
I would have to say it is a ‘means’ to a better quality of life. I have retired aged 46 to pursue a different lifestyle one focused on training for triathlon and the benefits that brings. I feel triathlon acts as a very good vehicle in pursuing my persoanl lifestyle aims, to be fit and healthy, to find my own personal limits, and to gain a deeper understanding of the person I am. I have an ‘end’ point in mind, and that is to go sub 10hrs and hopefully qualify for Hawaii, but I do not need this target to give my training meaning rather it simply helps me to focus on what benefits are already there.
I find triathlon to act as a cycle as both a means and an end, depending on your training and goals. The means is undoubtedly the constant training that the sport requires and the physical improvement and mental well-being that accompany it. The end, on the other hand, is completely subjective. Whether it be to do something you haven’t done before, PR at a race, or push the limits of how much your body and mind can bear, the end is dependent on the goals of the individual. That being said, that’s just my opinion and may or may not mirror your own. Just enjoy the ride.
It’s a means to a end
.
It’s a means to a end
Everything you do in life is means, the end is just death.
Yeah - now THAT’s some common sense!! God’s speed, my friend.
it’s one way to form the question. i don’t know if it’s the most precise way to put it.
i’m squarely in the camp of: the sizzle is in the journey. the races celebrate the lifestyle, but they don’t validate it.
to me, at this point in my life, triathlons bear a resemblance to family reunions. reunions highlight and celebrate the day-to-day, but you perform, execute, build, enjoy, and work at family life in-between reunions.
I think it would depend on the intentions of the subject really. If you intend to complete an Ironman, then the ironman is, most likely, the ends, and your training becomes the means.
If you want to lose weight/get in shape, then triathlon is your means to that goal.
It could even be broken down further into training versus racing. While training is most obviously a means, racing could go either way depending on what the goals of the subject are.
When we are talking about personal goals and whether they are ends or means it is completely subjective based on the subject’s intentions.
For me, triathlon is both a means and an end. It is something I enjoy in-and-of itself, and therefore an end. But it is also a vehicle for me to stay in shape and live a healthy life, and therefore a means.
Honestly though, I don’t know why it matters that much. It is so supremely subjective that only your views on what triathlon is to you matter. Whatever we, or anyone else, thinks is irrelevant.
Side note: Oh and Kant is annoying as hell. He takes page-long sentences to describe things that could be expressed in a few lines. His wordy diction always made me feel like he was more interested in presenting himself as an intellectual rather than having intellectually stimulating ideas. Maybe it’s just the translation, but his writing is way more dense than it needs to be. I think that being able to concisely depict one’s thoughts and presenting them in a way that everyone can understand is one of the true virtues of a great philosopher, a virtue Kant definitely did not possess.
Both an end and a means
As an end—it simply creates pleasure and as such forms part of the good life. If you want to get more technical, it’s part of the eudaimon life-- although the ancients didn’t conceive of eudaimonia in terms of physical activity (bodily motion expressed through say triathlon, running or just walking) I think it’s an integral part of it.
As a means—instrumental in health, identity, and even enhancing family life (e.g., include kids in pool workout, etc.).
It’s probably both.
I sign up for a race, which gives me a goal to train for. But as I am training, I don’t really care about the race.
It is in the “eye of the beholder”… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns6YSvCsVJM