One of the compliments philosophy is paid is its being invoked to spice up other things that--without a dash of philosophy--might seem rather insipid.
Consider "parkours" (from the Fr., parcours), and "freerunning," practically indistinguishable urban sports invented and perfected in France. Both are kinds of scrambling around, caroming gracefully off of obstacles, hurdling guardrails, and scaling tall buildings in multiple bounds. They have been compared to a kind of po' folks' skateboarding, or one-gear biking without the bike or the one gear.
How can print journalism make this stillborn craze seem glamorous enough to want to read about, rather than just check out (or not) on YouTube?
Answer: Philosophy! Here's Ethan Todras-Whitehill in the NY Times, on the elusive parkour/freerunning distinction:
Freerunning focuses on the feeling and aesthetic expression of freedom, thinking that can be traced to the transcendentalism of Rousseau and Thoreau. And parkour’s “utility,” of which Mr. Cliff and other traceurs speak, is akin to the Utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham in its application of mathematical principles to everyday life.
Got that? Now you're all set to throw yourself against a wall. As the French say, but a single step separates the ridiculous and the sublime.
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