Is Running a way to Flee the Absurdity of Human Existence (Pt1)? Prof. John Kaag - Meaningful Sport Series

Physical Activity Researcher

Running - as well as other sports - can provide moments of transcendence, but it can also become a distraction and an escape from the absurdity of human existence. How can existential philosophy, especially the works of Camus and Nietzsche, help us understand how we slip from running as a life-affirming activity to running as an obsession?

In this episode, John Kaag shares his personal story as a runner and leads us to explore running (and other sports) from an existential philosophical perspective. The specific focus is on Camus's philosophy and the key ideas such as 'the absurd' and 'philosophical suicide' and how we can think of these in the context of our sporting activities.

John Kaag is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is the author of several books including Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who you Are. Our conversation draws from his recent essay How to Live with Dying published in The American Scholar.

You can follow John on Twitter @JohnKaag.