Leiden University Student Repository

Hoogendoorn, Lucas Arnout (2019)

Football & Capital. The Mediation of Modern Football

Bachelor thesis | Wijsbegeerte (BA)

What ontological changes does commercialization make to the relation of the crowd and the game played on the field? In chapter 1, I will use Johan Huizinga's ideas on sport and play from Homo Ludens to prove that before we can speak of any changes brought about by commercialization, this relation must be accounted for nondualistically. In chapter 2, I will use Gadamer’s non-dualistic ontology of play and spectator that he develops in Truth and Method to prove that the spectator opens a possibility for play to transform into art, where, when the transformation is fully realized, the relation between play and spectator becomes one of “aesthetic non-differentiation”. I will also show that the proof of such a transformation having taken place in the case of football, hinges on a “perception of a meaningful whole” on the part of the spectator. In chapter 3, I will prove the existence of such a perception, by looking at the language of 'justice' surrounding football and I will prove also...Show moreWhat ontological changes does commercialization make to the relation of the crowd and the game played on the field? In chapter 1, I will use Johan Huizinga's ideas on sport and play from Homo Ludens to prove that before we can speak of any changes brought about by commercialization, this relation must be accounted for nondualistically. In chapter 2, I will use Gadamer’s non-dualistic ontology of play and spectator that he develops in Truth and Method to prove that the spectator opens a possibility for play to transform into art, where, when the transformation is fully realized, the relation between play and spectator becomes one of “aesthetic non-differentiation”. I will also show that the proof of such a transformation having taken place in the case of football, hinges on a “perception of a meaningful whole” on the part of the spectator. In chapter 3, I will prove the existence of such a perception, by looking at the language of 'justice' surrounding football and I will prove also that these utterances point to a blockage in the transformation. In chapter 4, I will find the source of this blockage in commodification of football and its transformation into a spectacle.Show less

Football

Capitalism

Gadamer

Huizinga

Play

Baudrillard

Mediation

Author

Hoogendoorn, Lucas Arnout

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Chouraqui, Frank

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en