A History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education: From the Ancient Civilizations to the Modern World (Second Edition)

A large number of historical textbooks begin with the desire to create a vehicle for helping students understand the changes that have occurred in a defined area. This text is no exception. We have created a textbook that can be used to explain changes from several perspectives, particularly the way that cultures throughout Western civilization have viewed the relationship of the mind and body.... As a consequence of our approach we do not list all the many sports and playful activities that have been developed since the beginnings of Western civilization... Rather, we try to interpret, explain, and describe much of the development of sport in terms of how past cultures have viewed the human body... We have had much success examining issues in sport and play through the interpretive lens of metaphysics and hope that readers will find this approach as helpful as we have. --- excerpts from Introduction