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Philosophy and Sport

Wrestling with Ideas

by Peter Rickman (a.k.a.“The Professor”)

I have been asked for philosophic reflections on wrestling because of my known interest in the sport – as a spectator, mind you, and if you have ever set eyes on me you will appreciate, not as a practitioner.

A crucial feature of wrestling and probably its main attraction is that it is one of the few sports presenting physical combat between two individuals. The only others I can think of are boxing and fencing. Fascination for such single combat permeates the history of mankind. In the Trojan Wars, Patrocles faced Achilles outside the walls of the city, was chased around them and eventually killed.

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