The Good Sport: Physical Literacy and a Moral Self

Abstract

Physical literacy is a theoretical concept defined by Margaret Whitehead as an individual’s competence, knowledge and understanding, and motivation to participate in lifelong physical activity. This concept emerged out of concern for the seeming disregard of human embodiment, particularly in the education sector, and is firmly rooted in the philosophical concepts of monism, existentialism, and phenomenology. In accordance with existential philosophers such as Merleau-Ponty and Sartre, who argue human beings are fundamentally beings-in-the-world, physical literacy purports physically literate individuals should have a well-established embodied sense of self. They are to develop as proficient movers capable of exemplary self-expression, self-presentation, and interactions with others. But this conception of ‘self’ is incomplete absent the recognition that we are not only beings-in-the-world, but rather socially situated embodied beings whose interactions demand more than a sharp sense of kinesthetic awareness. Herein lies my motivation for this thesis. Specifically, the current philosophical foundations of physical literacy are inadequate to account for a conception of self which recognizes humans as both, embodied movers, and moral beings. As such, this thesis critiques the concept of sense of self foundational to physical literacy and its failure to account for a moral self. In response to this gap in the extant literature, the remainder of this thesis is dedicated to expanding the philosophical foundation of physical literacy to include the development of a moral sense of self by drawing upon the concepts of sport-as-play and sportsmanship.