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PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS IN BRAZIL: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS IN THE WORK OF INEZIL PENNA MARINHO

FILOSOFIA DA EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA E DO ESPORTE NO BRASIL: UMA ANÁLISE DOS FUNDAMENTOS FILOSÓFICOS NA OBRA DE INEZIL PENNA MARINHO

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to investigate the historical origins of the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports in Brazil. The writings of Inezil Penna Marinho, former Professor of the University of Brazil between 1945 and 1984, were the first on this specific content in Brazil. Data collection resulted in six thematic categories, namely “Comments on Translated Fragments”, “Philology of Physical Education and Sports”, “Games, Hedonism and Transfiguration”, “Leisure and Axiology”, “Philosophy of Curricular Physical Education”, and “Metaphysics of Brain”. Marinho was an Eclectic, Foundationalist, and Casuistic philosopher. In his texts, Physical Education got ethical, axiological, aesthetical, epistemic, psychoanalytical, educational, political, and metaphysical attributes. Additionally, Marinho developed dialogues with authors from Aristotelianism, Platonism, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Evolutionism, Empirism, Freudism, Critical Theory, Hedonism, Platonic Theology, Stoicism, Cartesianism, and Bergsonism. Five classical issues appeared in his production: happiness as a transcendental demand; nature of the correspondence between language and reality; duality mind-body; historical conflict between freedom and domination; constitution of the subject. For him, gymnastics seemed to be higher in axiological importance than sports, games, and general physical activity. This result shows that the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports in Brazil has its own traditions.

Keywords:
History; Philosophy; Physical Education; Sports; Brazil

RESUMO

O presente estudo objetivou investigar as origens históricas da Filosofia da Educação Física e do Esporte no Brasil. Os escritos de Inezil Penna Marinho, ex-professor da Universidade do Brasil entre 1945 e 1984, foram os primeiros sobre esse conteúdo específico no Brasil. A coleta de dados resultou em seis categorias temáticas, nomeadamente “Comentários sobre Fragmentos Traduzidos”, “Filologia da Educação Física e Desporto”, “Jogos, Hedonismo e Transfiguração”, “Lazer e Axiologia”, “Filosofia da Educação Física Curricular” e “Metafísica do cérebro”. Marinho foi um filósofo eclético, fundacionalista e casuístico. Nos textos de Marinho, a Educação Física tem atributos éticos, axiológicos, estéticos, epistêmicos, psicanalíticos, educacionais, políticos e metafísicos. Adicionalmente, Marinho desenvolveu diálogos com autores do Aristotelismo, Platonismo, Renascimento, Iluminismo, Evolucionismo, Empirismo, Freudismo, Teoria Crítica, Hedonismo, Teologia Platônica, Estoicismo, Cartesianismo e Bergsonismo. Cinco questões clássicas apareceram em sua produção: a felicidade como demanda transcendental; natureza da correspondência entre linguagem e realidade; dualidade mente-corpo; conflito histórico entre liberdade e dominação; constituição do sujeito. Para Marinho, a ginástica parecia ter maior importância axiológica do que esportes, jogos e atividade física geral. Esse resultado mostra que a Filosofia da Educação Física e do Esporte no Brasil possui tradições próprias.

Palavras-chave:
História; Filosofia; Educação Física; Esportes; Brasil

Introduction

The Philosophy of Sports refers internationally to the conceptual analysis and the questioning of sports practices and related areas (games, physical exercises, dance, physical education, biosciences, among others), examining major themes on ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, theory of values, and aesthetics, involving the use of the body as either physical or institutional activity. Sports Philosophy not only deals with insights of various fields of philosophy but above all, it generates comprehensive interpretations of sport11. Codea A, Beresford H, Costa LP, Reppold A. Philosophy of sports, ethics and physical education, fair play. In: Costa LP, organizador. Atlas of sports in Brazil: atlas of sports, of physical education and physical activities for health and for leisure in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Shape; 2005, p. 757-759.),(22. Stoltz SA. The Philosophy of Physical Education: a New Perspective. London: Routledge; 2014.),(33. Edgar A. The Philosophy of Sport. Int J Hist Sport2015;32(15):1804-1807. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2015.1108309
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Contemporaneous historians of the Sports Philosophy agree that the foundation of the Philosophic Society for the Study of Sport, which took place in the United States of America in 1972, was a crucial event for its further development. Less important, but undoubtedly playing a pioneering role in Europe and East Asia, were the creations of the philosophical division of the German Association of Sport Science and the Japan Society for the Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education, in 1976 and 1978, respectively. After 2000, new entities with the same profile have been organized. The constitution of the British Philosophy of Sport Association in England, 2001, and the European Association for the Philosophy of Sports in Arhus, Denmarck, 2008, opened this second cycle. In Brazil, 2014, the first Congress of the Latin Association of Philosophy of Sport (Associação Latina de Filosofia do Desporto - ALFiD) has happened. Currently, it is in course the development of the French Association for the Philosophy of Sport. These examples reveal that the inner structuration of the Philosophy of Sports field lasts until the present time and is in free expansion44. Hopsicker PM, Jirásek I. Sport philosophy around the world. In: Torres C, editor. The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Sport. London: Bloomsbury; 2015, p. 320-337..

The Philosophic Society for the Study of Sport contributed to increasing the academic status of the discipline all over the world, due to the aggregation of scholars, promotion of congresses, and edition of books and journals. For Pawlenka55. Pawlenka C. Philosophy of Sport in Germany: An overview of its history and academic research. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):271-291. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714781
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, this institution inaugurated the Sports Philosophy “narrow sense period”, understood as the time of rigorous research managed by specific philosophers of sport. However, it should be remembered that the earliest philosophical studies on modern sport came from the beginning of the 20th century, when few and lonely philosophers, physical educators, pedagogues, and educators started to analyze sport through perspectives rooted in Pragmatism, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Axiology, Anthropology, and Metaphysics44. Hopsicker PM, Jirásek I. Sport philosophy around the world. In: Torres C, editor. The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Sport. London: Bloomsbury; 2015, p. 320-337.),(66. McNamee M, Morgan WJ. A historical introduction to the philosophy of sport. In: McNamee M, Morgan WJ, editores. Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Sport. New York: Routledge; 2015, p. 2-13..

For instance, Kretchmar77. Kretchmar RS. Philosophy of Sport. In: Massengale JD, Swanson A, editors. The history of exercise and sport science. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers; 1997, p. 181-201. reiterates the pioneering role played by J. B. Nash, Clark Hetherington, Jesse Feiring Williams, and Thomas D. Wood in North America. Based on John Dewey’s theses, they were important figures of the “New Physical Education” movement in the mid-1950s, responsible for advocating the inclusion of sport, dance, and games in schools’ curricula because of their ethical and aesthetical aspects. McNamee and Morgan66. McNamee M, Morgan WJ. A historical introduction to the philosophy of sport. In: McNamee M, Morgan WJ, editores. Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Sport. New York: Routledge; 2015, p. 2-13. argue that this trend continued in the 60s. The outstanding texts of Sports Philosophy in these years came from two Physical Education professors at the University of Southern California. In this order, Howard Slusher published Man, Sport, and Existence, in 1967, and Eleanor Metheny Movement and Meaning, in 1968. Slusher’s book examined the existential significance of athletic engagement. Metheny’s pioneering work was a more ambitious and original contribution because it sought to outline a full-blown philosophical theory of human movement and sport. A year later, in 1969, Paul Weiss’s essay Sport: A philosophic inquiry came to the public, whose acceptance by the academic community was controversial.

Outside the Anglo-Saxon linguistic environment, the Japanese philosopher Masakazu Nakai wrote, in 1933, an article in Shisô entitled “The structure of my feelings when playing sport”, which was at the time the first work to propose rowing as a source of aesthetic experiences88. Hata T, Sekine M. Philosophy of sport and physical education in Japan: its history, characteristics and prospects. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):215-224. Doi: https://doi.org/ 10.1080/00948705.2010.9714777
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. In 1964, the book Values, Goals and the Reality of Modern Olympic Games was published, written by Hans Lenk and considered the “milestone” of the Philosophy of Sports in Germany55. Pawlenka C. Philosophy of Sport in Germany: An overview of its history and academic research. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):271-291. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714781
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. Still in the 60s, Jiří Černý, a Czech philosopher interested in German classic Idealism, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and Marxism, discerned the epistemic boundaries between sport, games, and play99. Jirásek I, Hopsicker PM. Philosophical Kinanthropology (Philosophy of Physical Culture, Philosophy of Sport) in Slavonic Countries: The culture, the writers, and the current directions. J Philosophy Sport2010;37(2):253-270. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714780
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. Respectively, in 1957 and 1967, the Spanish philosopher José Maria Cagigal proposed an anthropological and axiological comprehension of the social horizon of modern sports in Hombres y deportes and Deporte, pedagogia y humanism1010 Tubino M. As Teorias da Educação Física e do Esporte: Uma abordagem epistemológica. São Paulo: Manole; 2002.. Also in 1967, in France, the book Jeux et sports was launched, an essay where Roger Caillois applied the category of playful spirit to deepen the discussion on the formal and material relations between games and sports1111. Caillois R. Jeux et sports. Paris: Gallimard; 1967..

In the range of Portuguese speaking countries, Torres and Campos1212. Torres C, Campos D. Philosophy of sport in Latin America. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):292-309. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714782
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emphasize the work of the Brazilian educator Inezil Penna Marinho, author of several publications that explored the influence of classical and modern philosophers in Physical Education and sports between 1945 and 1985. As a technician in Physical Education, jurist, and erudite in Humanities, Marinho argued that understanding the similarities and differences between games, sports, gymnastics, dance, and martial arts in the fields of leisure, competition, and school physical activities required the study of the history of philosophy. His texts approached these dimensions through an innovative philosophic language that joined epistemic categories; the form and contents of the Portuguese grammar; and peculiar idiomatic expressions of the Brazilian culture1212. Torres C, Campos D. Philosophy of sport in Latin America. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):292-309. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714782
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Despite Marinho’s importance to the Lusophone physical culture, especially the Brazilian one, Torres & Campos1212. Torres C, Campos D. Philosophy of sport in Latin America. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):292-309. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714782
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highlight that an exegetical analysis of his articles, books, and papers is still necessary because thorough scrutiny of the author’s philosophic thought was not done exhaustively. The admission of this gap unfolds in another problem, which is epistemological and hermeneutical. On the one hand, it is known that philosophical texts are historical documents that reflect the state of the art of a knowledge structured by the action of a subject who conceptually discuss an object. To this end, he seeks; organizes; reads, and reinterprets doctrines from the past that belong to a given era1313. Cossutta F. Éléments pour le lecture des textes philosophiques. Paris: Bordas; 1989.. On the other hand, such a task requires the use of written resources from the present time, like metaphors, sentences, words, and signs. The language is dynamics, and, of course, its grammar and semantic rules are also influenced by the historical rhythm of the culture1414. Eilenberger W. Tempo de mágicos: A grande década da filosofia: 1919-1929. São Paulo: Todavia; 2019.. The third element is the style of the dissertation, whose decision depends on the writer’s intention1515. Russ J. Les méthods en philosophie. Paris: Armand Colin; 2008.. Finally, one should not forget that the philosopher’s conscience is a totality constructed by the emotional, cognitive, and bodily experiences he had throughout his life. Thus, the typology of a philosophical argument presupposes a chronological exchange between the will of the individual who produces the reflection and his memories1616. Folscheid D, Wunenburger JJ. Méthodologie Philosophique. Paris: PUF; 1992.. The interfaces of language encompass the flow of these temporal elements.

In summary, it can be said that Inezil Penna Marinho was part of a broader scenario of intellectuals who, since the 1930s, proposed to think about issues related to Education, in general, and to Physical Education and Sports, in particular, through philosophical approaches1212. Torres C, Campos D. Philosophy of sport in Latin America. J Philosophy Sport 2010;37(2):292-309. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00948705.2010.9714782
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. Methodologically, this circumstance means that his texts on this matter correspond to the systematic discourses that theoretically originated in the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports in Brazil. After all, they unify their existence and philosophical understanding through the dynamics of language. This perspective leads to the following questions: what values were attributed to Physical Education in such speeches? What functions did sport, gymnastics, games, and systematic physical activity get in the author’s philosophical writings? What doctrines, philosophic approaches, and thinkers did he choose to support his approaches? Have any traditional philosophical problems reappeared throughout the interpretations made? Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to explore Marinhos’ writings according to these guidelines.

Methods

The present work consists of exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative research, intending to access, contextualize, and interpreting the information conveyed by historical philosophical texts1717. Normore CG. The methodology of the history of philosophy. In: Cappelen H, Gendler TZ, Hawthorne J, editores. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2016, p. 27-48.. The data collection took place in seven websites: 1) Brazilian National Library Foundation; 2) Royal Portuguese Reading Room; 3) Brazilian Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO Brazil); 4) Atlas of Sports in Brazil; 5) Brazilian Digital Library of Dissertations and Thesis; 6) Google Books; 7) Inezil Penna Marinho files, administered by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The following expressions guided the search: “philosophy sports Brazil”; “philosophy physical education Brazil”; “history physical education Brazil”; “Inezil Penna Marinho philosophy physical education Brazil”; “Inezil Penna Marinho philosophy physical education Brazil”.

The analysis and selection of data were divided into four phases, carried out between January and June of the 2019 year, namely: 1) reading of the titles of the articles and books; 2) reading of the keywords and abstracts of the articles; 3) reading of the preface and introduction of the books; 4) full reading of articles and books. When the last 4th phase finished, the philosophical contents appropriate to the purposes of the study were identified and regrouped in thematic categories by the criteria of conceptual similarity, proposed by Russ1515. Russ J. Les méthods en philosophie. Paris: Armand Colin; 2008.. The analysis and discussion of the information allocated to these categories was based on conceptual dialogues with Brooks1818. Brooks J. The eclectic legacy: academic philosophy and the human sciences in nineteenth-century France. London: Associated University Presses; 1998., Gama and Costa1919. Gama DRN, Costa LP. Reflections on the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sport in Brazil in its non-disciplinary period: authors, conceptual grounds and historical trends. Rev Filosofia Capital 2019;14(21):89-101., Paim2020. Paim A. História das idéias filosóficas no Brasil. São Paulo: Convívio; 1984., Dalben2121. Dalben A. Inezil Penna Marinho: formação de um intelectual da Educação Física. Movimento2011;17(1):59-76., Gadamer2222. Gadamer HG. Hermenêutica da obra de arte. São Paulo: Martins Fontes; 2010., Reale and Antisieri2323. Reale G, Aantisieri D. História da filosofia, 5: do romantismo ao empiriocriticismo. São Paulo: Paulus; 2005., Heidegger2424. Heidegger, M. A caminho da linguagem. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes; 2008., Benjamin2525. Benjamin W. Passagens. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG; São Paulo: Imprensa Oficial do Estado de São Paulo; 2006., Burdzinski2626. Burdzinski JC. Os problemas do Fundacionismo. Kriterion2007;115:107-125. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-512X2007000100007
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, Ferrater-Mora2727. Ferrater-Mora J. Nominalismo. In: Dicionário de Filosofia, Tomo III (K-P). São Paulo: Loyola; 2004, p. 2015-2108., Rouanet2828. Rouanet SP. Teoria crítica e psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro; 1986., Nahrstedt2929. Nahrstedt W. Emancipação através do esporte de lazer? In: Dieckert J, organizador. Esporte de lazer: tarefa e chance para todos. Rio de Janeiro: Ao Livro Técnico; 1984, p. 53-66., Lenk3030. Lenk H. Tecnocracia e tecnologia: Notas sobre uma discussão ideológica. In: Bayer G, organizador. Tecnocracia e Ideologia. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro; 1975, p. 121-144., Abbagnano3131. Abbagnano N. Dicionário de Filosofia. São Paulo: Martins Fontes; 2000., Engel3232. Engel P. Neurosciences et recherches cognitives. In: Pradeau JF, editor. Histoire de la Philosophie. Paris: Seuil; 2009, p. 678-688., and Oliveira, Santos, Schneider, and Ferreira Neto3333. Oliveira ASF, Santos W, Schneider O, Ferreira Neto A. Inezil Penna Marinho: lugares e práticas em periódicos da Educação Física. Movimento2015;21(3):575-590. Doi: https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.48020
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Results

The refined research on the websites has retrieved thirteen studies (ten articles, one book, and two academic dissertations). After proper analysis, their data were separated and redistributed into six thematic categories, called “Comments on Translated Fragments”; “Philology of Physical Education and Sports”; “Games, Hedonism and Transfiguration”; “Leisure and Axiology”; “Philosophy of Curricular Physical Education”; “Metaphysics of Brain”.

Comments on translated fragments

Inezil Penna Marinho’s inaugural book on the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports was a 1945 compilation entitled “Os Clássicos e a Educação Física” (The Classics and the Physical Education). In this work, he translated freely and then commented on several fragments of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Juvenile, Thomas Morus, François Rabelais, Michel de Montaigne, Francisco Fenelon, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi, Friedrich Herbart, and Herbert Spencer. He intended to characterize the historical thinking of the Physical Education in the Classical Antiquity, Renaissance, and Enlightenment, as well as and in the transitions between these periods3434. Marinho IP. Os Clássicos e a Educação Física. Rio de Janeiro: Cia Brasil; 1945..

The justifications given to produce “Os Clássicos e a Educação Física” were two. First, the curricula of the Physical Education courses offered in Brazil in the 1940s devoted little space to dialogue with thinkers of Ancient, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Modern Philosophy. Additionally, the lack of collections in Human Sciences in public libraries aggravated this problem. Marinho3434. Marinho IP. Os Clássicos e a Educação Física. Rio de Janeiro: Cia Brasil; 1945. believed that discerning the philosophical roots of Physical Education could facilitate the understanding of the history and pedagogy of gymnastics, games, and physical activity in general.

All the above thinkers would be examined again in the monograph “Lugar da Educação Física no Plano Educacional” (Place of Physical Education in the Educational Plan), also written in 19453535. Marinho IP. Lugar da Educação Física no Plano Educacional. In: Goellner SV, organizador. Inezil Penna Marinho: coletânea de textos. Porto Alegre: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Colégio Brasileiro de Ciências do Esporte; 2005, p. 35-60.. With the same methodology (comments on selected and freely translated fragments), Marinho revised the different philosophical ideas explained in “Os Clássicos e a Educação Física” to support the thesis that the teaching of Physical Education should be included in all levels of education: primary and secondary schools; commercial and industrial courses; teacher training; universities and special education. Indeed, his reasoning took four premises, listed below.

According to Homer, Plato, and Aristotle, gymnastics done in moderation promoted the virtue of balance between body and soul. Consequently, the mind of a gymnast accepted the coming of death without showing fear or despair, as these feelings denote an unhealthy mind. Renaissance philosophers Thomas Morus, François Rabelais, and Michel de Montaigne updated this argument, adding that gymnastics, through the strengthening of the body, facilitated the achievement of happiness due to the improvement of physiological functions of the organs. Herbert Spencer went ahead, reinforcing the evolutionary effects of physical exercise for humankind, especially when practiced in a naturalistic way. Finally, Francisco Fenelon, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi, Friedrich Herbart led the structuring of a new paradigm, referenced in the defense of play and games as an educational norm, especially for children3434. Marinho IP. Os Clássicos e a Educação Física. Rio de Janeiro: Cia Brasil; 1945.),(3535. Marinho IP. Lugar da Educação Física no Plano Educacional. In: Goellner SV, organizador. Inezil Penna Marinho: coletânea de textos. Porto Alegre: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Colégio Brasileiro de Ciências do Esporte; 2005, p. 35-60..

Despite the epistemic differences between these approaches, for Marinho, they endorsed the moral, biological, and pedagogical benefits of gymnastics, play, and games. Therefore, the inclusion of Physical Education in educational plans should be treated as a universal right3535. Marinho IP. Lugar da Educação Física no Plano Educacional. In: Goellner SV, organizador. Inezil Penna Marinho: coletânea de textos. Porto Alegre: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Colégio Brasileiro de Ciências do Esporte; 2005, p. 35-60..

Philology of Physical Education and Sports

In 1957, Marinho held a public contest for the chair of History and Organization of Physical Education and Sports of the National School of Physical Education and Sports, belonging to the former University of Brazil, now the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro3636. Oliveira SF. Inezil Penna Marinho and the history of Physical Education in Brazil: historiographic practices and research sources (1940-1958). Acta Historia Educere 2017;1(1):54-67.. His approval occurred through the presentation of the dissertation “Interpretação histórica da XIV Olímpica de Píndaro3737. Marinho IP. Interpretação histórica da XIV Olímpica de Píndaro. Rio de Janeiro: Tipografia Batista; 1957..

This monograph was philological in nature and centered on the detailing of one of the archaic Greek versions of the poem that Pindar wrote in honor of Asopic of Orcomenon, the winner of the children’s stadium race at the 76th Olympics in 476 BC. Initially, Marinho elucidated the metric, phonetic, and musical particularities of the verses. His purpose at this stage was to feature Pindar’s lyrical style. Then, he translated the rhymes into the Portuguese language in the form of prose. Finally, Marinho diagnosed that Olympic Games competitions in ancient Greece were allowed for teenagers too.

Twenty-seven years later, in 1984, the author produced another work with linguistic profile, the essay “Tema para debate: Nova denominação para o Professor de Educação Física - Educação Física, uma Expressão Inadequada” (Topic for debate: New denomination for the Physical Education Teacher - Physical Education, an Inappropriate Expression). This study postulated the need for a conceptual renewal of the expression “Physical Education Teacher”. Marinho started the study examining the etymology of the word “gymnastics” in classical Greek and the connotations given by Plato to its instructors in “The Republic”. After this preamble, the emergence of the expression “Physical Education” was put as a legacy from the educational thought of John Locke, which was after consolidated by Herbert Spencer. The reflection ended with the proposal that the designation “Kinesiologist” was the best one for the widening of the professional fields occupied by the Physical Education teacher in contemporary times3838. Marinho IP. Tema para debate: Nova denominação para o Professor de Educação Física - Educação Física, uma Expressão Inadequada. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 223-236..

Games, Hedonism, and Transfiguration

In the article “O Hedonismo de Platão e Aristóteles a Freud e Marcuse”, Marinho discussed the fundamentals of Hedonism, the Greek philosophic system that elected the pursuit of pleasure as the essence of happiness. The good Socratic life inspired this notion. After questioning the different shades of this relationship in Plato’s, Aristotle’s, and Epicurus’ ethical theories, he analyzed its resurgence in the educational philosophies of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Empiricism, Idealism, Evolutionism, Psychoanalysis, and Critical Theory. In the end, he added viewpoints of John Locke, Sigmund Freud, and Herbert Marcuse3939. Marinho IP. O Hedonismo de Platão e Aristóteles a Freud e Marcuse. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 23-72..

In the second part of the article, whose name was “O Hedonismo na Psicologia”, Marinho stated that the “Homo Sapiens” is a specimen endowed with a transcendental instinct oriented towards the metamorphosis of body appearance. This hypothesis came from Haeckel’s law of the population biogenesis, the father of ecological thought. Marinho called this instinct a transfiguration impulse. This behavior has two dimensions, both relate to mental life. Anyone needs to attract sexual partners and make the impression of being beautiful. However, there are also sick reasons, which exaggerate this attitude and manifest personality disorders, such as narcissistic desires and trans-sexuality. Games can satisfy and educate this impulse since childhood because their fictional aspects induce the sublimation of conflicting emotions. If the complete sublimation is prevented by any psychic factor, gaming can serve at least as catharsis. Moreover, children reinvent the symbols of adulthood when they are playing games. This creative act allows them to become more autonomous and morally strengthened3939. Marinho IP. O Hedonismo de Platão e Aristóteles a Freud e Marcuse. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 23-72..

The rudiments of this reflection had already been proposed in a 1945 lecture presented 36 years before, at the Pan American Congress of Physical Education, where Marinho gave to gaming the connotation of cultural activity with therapeutic utility. The lecture was published in 2005 as a book chapter named “Do valor bio-psico-social do jogo em particular e dos exercícios em geral - a sua influência na modificação do caráter e mesmo na sua modificação - observações a respeito4040. Marinho IP. Do valor bio-psico-social do jogo em particular e dos exercícios em geral - a sua influência na modificação do caráter e mesmo na sua modificação - observações a respeito. In: Goellner SV, organizador. Inezil Penna Marinho: coletânea de textos. Porto Alegre: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Colégio Brasileiro de Ciências do Esporte ; 2005, p. 17-34.. His arguments took for granted the fact that the benefits of the development of modern society require the repression of sexual impulses. This was the cost of civilization, said Freud, Herbert Marcuse, and Erich Fromm. Gaming works as a kind of compensation mechanism for the displeasure produced4040. Marinho IP. Do valor bio-psico-social do jogo em particular e dos exercícios em geral - a sua influência na modificação do caráter e mesmo na sua modificação - observações a respeito. In: Goellner SV, organizador. Inezil Penna Marinho: coletânea de textos. Porto Alegre: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Colégio Brasileiro de Ciências do Esporte ; 2005, p. 17-34..

Leisure and Axiology

In 1984, Marinho published the essay “Escólios axiológicos à problemática jurídica do lazer - o lazer como importante fator na Qualidade de Vida do trabalhador”, in the form of a book chapter4141. Marinho IP. Escólios axiológicos à problemática jurídica do lazer - o lazer como importante fator na Qualidade de Vida do trabalhador. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 195-222.. In this text, he articulated the conceptual meanings of the relations between leisure and work from five distinct sources. They were the Theology of St. Augustine; the Renaissance philosophers Léon Batista Alberti, Marsílio Ficino, Tommaso Campanella, Giordano Bruno, and Thomas Morus; the Hedonism of Epicurus, Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius, Platonism and Aristotelianism; the Freudism; the Critical Theory of Herbert Marcuse.

These authors’ theories were readapted within a proposal of Philosophy of Law applied to leisure as a transcendental human need. Marinho enhanced that the progressive mechanization and robotization of modern industrial processes have increased the hours of free time of the working class so that the stimulus to free associationism concerned with sports, chess, dance, and the arts could optimize the enjoyment of this new social phenomenon.

In the article “As grandes linhas filosóficas da Ginástica nas Idades Moderna e Contemporânea”, written in 1984, Marinho defended the indispensability of gymnastics in contemporary leisure, due to its proximity to dance, music and performing art. To ground his arguments, he reviewed the fundamentals of modern gymnastics according to the understandings of Noverre, Delsarte, Dalcroze, Guts-Muths, Nachtegall, Per Ling, Clias, and Rudolf Bode4242. Marinho IP. As grandes linhas filosóficas da Ginástica nas Idades Moderna e Contemporânea. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p.101-124..

Philosophy of Curricular Physical Education

Marinho has carried out philosophical investigations in the field of school Physical Education curriculum directed to three distinct objects: the value of this subject for the school environment; the Physical Education teacher as an instructor of body languages; capoeira as the basis of a Brazilian gymnastics system.

The value of Physical Education for the school environment was discussed in the 1980 essay “Educação Física: filosofia, ciência e arte”, where he described the various transformations in the field of Physical Education since Classical Antiquity. The analytical axes of reference were Aristotelianism; the genesis of modern sciences and the conception of human movement as an expression of beauty. The study concluded that a combination of these epistemologies would make the curricular teaching programs of Physical Education more interesting for the students, enriching their perceptions about the value of the school environment4343. Marinho IP. Educação Física: filosofia, ciência e arte. In: Goellner SV, organizador. Inezil Penna Marinho: coletânea de textos. Porto Alegre: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Colégio Brasileiro de Ciências do Esporte ; 2005; p. 61-74..

About the understanding of the Physical Education teacher as an instructor of body languages, Marinho proposed a reflection about it in the 1984 paper “Filosofia Educacional no Brasil” (Educational Philosophy in Brazil). In this study, he conceived the school Physical Education as a set of didactic-pedagogical strategies and procedures whose focus should be the improvement of body expression in educational establishments through gymnastics, sports, and games. The theoretical foundations of this point of view came from a survey of the dominant philosophical ideas in Brazilian education from Jesuitism to post Second World War. For Marinho, the crucial role of the Physical Education teacher would be to foster motor learning of the student starting with gymnastics exercises, followed by games and sports. Furthermore, he insisted that learning gymnastic movements were an indispensable prerequisite to the mastering of sports skills in general4444. Marinho IP. Filosofia Educacional no Brasil. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da Educação Física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 125-144..

Also in 1984, the author wrote a biographic paper recapitulating the various stages that he went through, throughout his life, to make possible the creation of a Brazilian method of gymnastics. In this work, whose name was “A filosofia de um sonho: ginástica brasileira”, Marinho said that the evolution of Physical Education in Brazil, compared to the other countries, convinced him of the importance of the creation of a Brazilian method of gymnastics, such as the ones historically developed in Sweden, France, Germany, and Denmark. For Brazil, he recommended the pedagogical use of capoeira, since it brought together the mysticism of the Brazilian people, the racial miscegenation, the tradition of customs, musicality, and religiosity. Therefore, this bodily manifestation concentrated on the essential aspects of the “spirit” of the Brazilian people and the relevance of its systematic appropriation by Physical Education4545. Marinho IP. A filosofia de um sonho: ginástica brasileira. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da Educação Física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 145-194..

Metaphysics of Brain

In 1949, Marinho advanced to the position of Full Professor of Physical Education Methodology at the University of Brazil with the dissertation “Aristóteles, Descartes e Bergson - diferenças no estudo das relações entre corpo e alma4646. Marinho IP. Aristóteles, Descartes e Bergson - diferenças no estudo das relações entre corpo e alma. Tese de Concurso para a Cátedra de Metodologia da Educação Física e dos Desportos. Rio de Janeiro: Escola Nacional de Educação Física e Desportos/Universidade do Brasil; 1949.),(4747. Marinho IP. Aristóteles, Descartes e Bergson - diferenças no estudo das relações entre corpo e alma. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte ; 1984, p. 73-100.. This research aimed to establish the differences and eventual convergences about the biological and psychic bonds between body and mind in the philosophies of Aristotle, Descartes, and Henri Bergson. The harmonic development of body and soul constituted the most meaningful pedagogical effect brought to individuals by systematic physical activity. To support this argument, Marinho articulated quotations of Plato, Rabelais, Montaigne, Rousseau, and Spencer.

After that, he compiled and exposed the specific ideas of Aristotle, Descartes and Bergson on this matter, he concluded that the brain does not determine consciousness or thought but acts only as the organ that mediates the spiritual world with the material one. This means that the mental life does not correspond to an epiphenomenon of the cerebral states. The latter are, above all, indicators of aspects of the life of the spirit being translated into the condition of the motor and affective manifestations.

Discussion

One of the hallmarks of the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports in Brazil in its origin was the influence of philosophical Eclecticism. The French romantic spiritualist Victor Cousin was one of its most renowned exponents. The eclectic method consisted in gathering categories coming from different theories of knowledge, in the light of a superior criterion or point of view that could approximate them. It was not overly concerned with the question of structural coherence between them. Cousin credited Eclecticism as the most efficient procedure to bring to the level of consciousness the truths that inhabited it internally1818. Brooks J. The eclectic legacy: academic philosophy and the human sciences in nineteenth-century France. London: Associated University Presses; 1998.),(1919. Gama DRN, Costa LP. Reflections on the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sport in Brazil in its non-disciplinary period: authors, conceptual grounds and historical trends. Rev Filosofia Capital 2019;14(21):89-101..

According to Paim2020. Paim A. História das idéias filosóficas no Brasil. São Paulo: Convívio; 1984., the introduction and consolidation of Eclecticism in Brazil took place during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. This process was largely due to the political-administrative reforms impetrated by the Marquis of Pombal in the national territory since 1759, whose initial milestone was the prohibition of Jesuitical teaching and its replacement by a scientific education consistent with the prerogatives of the French Encyclopedism and English Empiricism. However, the Jesuit tradition, instead of being shaken, continued to last with these new schools of philosophical thought. The result was the coexistence of doctrines that, instead of confronting each other, mutually adapted their precepts and began to advocate the constitution of an ethical plan where the inner experiences were elevated to the circumstance of factors capable of leading the individual to make free and fair public choices. The main proponent of the Ecleticism in Brazil was the theologian Franscisco Montalverne (1784-1858), accompanied by the philosophers Morais and Vale (1824-1886) and Ferreira França (1809-1857).

The first document produced in Brazil historically related to Physical Education under the guidelines of philosophical Eclecticism was the “Projeto de Reforma do Ensino Primário e várias Instituições Complementares da Instrução Pública”, written by the jurist, politician, and philosopher Ruy Barbosa, in 18824848. Marinho IP. Ruy Barbosa: paladino da Educação Física no Brasil. Brasília: Horizonte ; 1980.. In the name of the refutation of Turnen’s obligation in primary schools, Ruy Barbosa justified to the House of Representatives that modern empirical biology ratified the Aristotelian idea that the health of individuals derived from the harmony of the body with the spirit. The brain adjusted this meeting through the creation of positive emotions and the improvement of logical thinking. Gymnastics could catalyze this physiological, moral, and intellectual balance, confirming its civilizing potential of promoting the “Homo Sapiens” to the condition of “good animal”. According to Ralph Emerson and Herbert Spencer, only in this state it would achieve authentic happiness1919. Gama DRN, Costa LP. Reflections on the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sport in Brazil in its non-disciplinary period: authors, conceptual grounds and historical trends. Rev Filosofia Capital 2019;14(21):89-101..

One realizes that Ruy Barbosa articulated Aristotelianism, Spencer’s Evolutionism, and biological sciences to affirm the pedagogical relevance of gymnastics. Marinho used a similar procedure in two texts published in 1945 (Os Clássicos e a Educação Física and Lugar da Educação Física no Plano Educacional). He added to Aristotelianism and Spencer’s Evolutionism a series of theoretical subsidies inherent to other philosophical currents to validate his arguments, such as Platonism, Idealism, Renaissance, and Enlightenment.

The influence of Eclecticism was also present in “O Hedonismo de Platão e Aristóteles a Freud e Marcuse” and “Escólios axiológicos à problemática jurídica do lazer - o lazer como importante factor na Qualidade de Vida do trabalhador. In both, the author settled pleasure and leisure as philosophic objects of study combining notions of Freudism and Critical Theory with concepts of Augustinian Theology, Epicurism, Stoicism, Platonism, Aristotelianism, Renaissance, and Enlightenment.

Another unique feature of Marinho’s approach was the search for philosophical information in poetic texts. This trend can be proven by the inclusion of chapters on Homer and Juvenile in “Os Clássicos e a Educação Física” and the dissertation on Pindar and the XIV Olympics. Paraphrasing Gadamer2222. Gadamer HG. Hermenêutica da obra de arte. São Paulo: Martins Fontes; 2010., this choice for poetry allows us to suppose that Marinho pre-comprehended the artistic literature as a reference for the uncovering of philosophical truths intrinsic to gymnastics and Physical Education. In fact, since his youth the author dedicated himself to the declamation and writing of poetry, having even integrated clubs and academies of letters. In 1933, he won a contest with the poem “Tetrálogo dos Cavaleiros do Apocalipse3636. Oliveira SF. Inezil Penna Marinho and the history of Physical Education in Brazil: historiographic practices and research sources (1940-1958). Acta Historia Educere 2017;1(1):54-67.. By the way, it should be noted that, in the same year, Marinho had already written a book of poetry called “Castália”, which was only published in 1945. In this text, elements of Greek culture were revisited from the perspective of verses, which denotes the weight exerted by Hellenic values and art during its formation process2121. Dalben A. Inezil Penna Marinho: formação de um intelectual da Educação Física. Movimento2011;17(1):59-76.. Such personal disposition may have been a factor that motivated him to consider poetry as a source of valid philosophical information. This hypothesis gains strength when one notices that Marinho dares to make free translations of the poetic texts that he considered relevant. However, it is necessary to investigate it further.

In the history of modern and contemporary philosophies, it is possible to point out several authors who have exegeted poetic texts under the pretext of having glimpsed universal issues announced in their combinations of words or have opted for this type of linguistic resource because they saw it as the most appropriate for the communication of their thoughts. In German Romanticism, Hölderlin, Novalis, and Goethe’s choices for the poem were due to their beliefs that this discourse was the best to describe the interfaces between God, art, tradition, and Nature2323. Reale G, Aantisieri D. História da filosofia, 5: do romantismo ao empiriocriticismo. São Paulo: Paulus; 2005.. In the first half of the 20th century, Martin Heidegger2424. Heidegger, M. A caminho da linguagem. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes; 2008. investigated in George Trakl’s poetic language the dynamics of the double process of concealment and revelation of Being. At the same time, Walter Benjamin2525. Benjamin W. Passagens. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG; São Paulo: Imprensa Oficial do Estado de São Paulo; 2006. anticipated in Charles Baudelaire’s “As Flores do Mal” the hypothesis of the configuration of modernity as the eternal return of the identical. Many other thinkers from different periods could be remembered concerning such a theme (Timon of Philus, Seneca, Lucretius, Herder…). However, such an epistemic attitude did not occur in any Sports Philosopher (even among individuals aligned with Continental Philosophy) whose intellectual production precedes or is subsequent to the emergence of the Philosophic Society for the Study of Sport, in 1972. In this sense, it is licit to affirm Marinho’s vanguard position.

In terms of Knowledge Theory, Marinho’s posture of recovering in the history of philosophy the conventional links between gymnastics and Physical Education are associated with epistemological Foundationalism. The latter consists of a system that encompasses how the justified beliefs of individuals become knowledge. Foundationalism is the dominant way of thinking about this topic since Plato’s time. Its roots go back to the Menon and Teeteto Dialogues2626. Burdzinski JC. Os problemas do Fundacionismo. Kriterion2007;115:107-125. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-512X2007000100007
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-512X200700...
. The Foundationalism basically postulates that some of the beliefs we hold are based on other beliefs we consider to be aprioristic. That is, in a pair of “p” and “q” propositions, someone believes in “p” because of “q”. The application of this formula to Marinho’s reasoning regarding gymnastics as a content of Physical Education gives rise to the following propositions: 1) gymnastics, as a content of Physical Education, adds positive values to the Being of man; 2) philosophical authorities of different Schools of thought have recommended the pedagogical practice of gymnastics and Physical Education throughout history. Since humankind inhabits the historical world, and Philosophy corresponds to the primordial knowledge from which all others emanated, then the positive pedagogical beliefs attributed by philosophers to gymnastics and Physical Education must be historical truths.

Marinho also used the Foundationalist argument to criticize the overlong use of the expression “Physical Education teacher”. Utilizing a propositional scheme again, it is undeniable that motor exercises and systematic physical activity add positive values to the Being of man. Philosophy authorizes this presupposition. On the other hand, gymnastics, sports, games, martial arts, among others, have varied their material dimension in the course of historical time, as well as the knowledge developed to theorize them. Thus, there is no reason to keep the designation given to the pedagogical agent responsible for ministering them unchanged in the long term. It is necessary to improve the concepts that best designate this professional because the contexts in which he intercedes are mutant.

This argumentative chain assumes that discussing the academic conceptual language inherent to Physical Education and Sports is a necessary task because the circumstances of the professional’s performance in the labor market reflect the course of historical changes. If this language remains excessively rigid, it runs the risk of becoming vague and imprecise. By recommending the substitution of “Physical Education teacher” to “Kinesiologist”, Marinho assumes a posture consistent with epistemological Nominalism in this study. For Nominalism, existence is becoming; therefore, it is fallacious to postulate temporal links between names and things, especially in science, with universal coverage2727. Ferrater-Mora J. Nominalismo. In: Dicionário de Filosofia, Tomo III (K-P). São Paulo: Loyola; 2004, p. 2015-2108..

It should be emphasized that the debate on the relevance of the denomination “Physical Education teacher” in contemporary times proliferated in the academic environment of national and international Physical Education in the 1980s and 1990s. Like Marinho, the North American Newell4949. Newell KM. Kinesiology: the label for the study of physical activity in higher education. Quest 1990;42:269-278. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.1990.10483999
https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.1990.10...
insisted on its exchange for “Kinesiologist”. On the European scene, the Belgian Renson5050. Renson R. Homo movens: in search of paradigms for the study of humans in movement. In: Park R, Eckert HM, editors. The academy papers. New possibilities, new paradigms. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics; 1990. and the Portuguese Manuel Sérgio5151. Sérgio M. Educação Física ou Ciência da Motricidade Humana? Campinas: Papirus; 1989. proposed, based on the functionalist sociology of Talcott Parsons and the idea of human motricity, the names “Cineanthropologist” and “Quinanthropologist”.

Regarding the theme of gaming, Marinho considered it from a double perspective: 1) therapeutic and educational vector; 2) social means of cathartic compensation. This means that gaming could be put in favor of both the promotion of individual freedom and mass domination. Even without mentioning it directly, such a question would fall within the greater framework of research on the productions of culture as sources of emancipation or domination. The dialectical implications of this question were one of the main objects of study of the Frankfurt School. Since the 1930s, Erich Fromm and especially Walter Benjamin have talked about melancholy in modern life and its effects on the constitution of the subject’s mental balance. The influence of Freudism was decisive for this. However, Fromm and Benjamin did not disregard the possibility of the instrumental use of culture for social control purposes2828. Rouanet SP. Teoria crítica e psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro; 1986.. While Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse made great strides in the analysis of this second aspect, Habermas later resorted to the Husserlian concept of “world of life” (Lebenswelt) to affirm free communication as an indispensable condition for the realization of the values left by the tradition of Enlightenment2828. Rouanet SP. Teoria crítica e psicanálise. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro; 1986..

The assumption that leisure could be better managed and enjoyed if the workers were reunited in free associations committed to the dissemination of gymnastic, sporting, and artistic exercise is the main hypothesis presented by Marinho in the two works he debated this issue. Just to remember, they were “Escólios axiológicos à problemática jurídica do lazer - o lazer como importante factor na Qualidade de Vida do trabalhador” and “As grandes linhas filosóficas da Ginástica nas Idades Moderna e Contemporânea”. This belief indicates once again Marinho’s affinity with Enlightenment ideals. The background of his analyses was the conflicting relationship between freedom and oppression as a structural aspect of contemporary societies. Nahrstedt2929. Nahrstedt W. Emancipação através do esporte de lazer? In: Dieckert J, organizador. Esporte de lazer: tarefa e chance para todos. Rio de Janeiro: Ao Livro Técnico; 1984, p. 53-66. states that the concept of leisure was built in the scope of Kant’s proposition that Enlightenment represented the only way to remove a man from his minority. Originally called freizeit, its meaning has to do with the institutionalization of spaces and times of freedom. The oldest gymnastics club in Germany, the Hamburger Turnerschaft (Hamburg Gymnastics Association), was established in 1816 in line with this principle. Later, in the second half of the 19th century, initiatives of this nature began to be promoted by labor parties and trade unions2929. Nahrstedt W. Emancipação através do esporte de lazer? In: Dieckert J, organizador. Esporte de lazer: tarefa e chance para todos. Rio de Janeiro: Ao Livro Técnico; 1984, p. 53-66..

In the 1970s, sports philosopher Hans Lenk4747. Marinho IP. Aristóteles, Descartes e Bergson - diferenças no estudo das relações entre corpo e alma. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte ; 1984, p. 73-100. also investigated the emancipatory potential of leisure for the German working class in the essay “Tecnocracia e tecnologia: Notas sobre uma discussão ideológica”. While emphasizing the importance of free associationism, like Marinho4141. Marinho IP. Escólios axiológicos à problemática jurídica do lazer - o lazer como importante fator na Qualidade de Vida do trabalhador. In: Introdução ao estudo da filosofia da educação física e dos desportos. Brasília: Horizonte; 1984, p. 195-222., Lenk3030. Lenk H. Tecnocracia e tecnologia: Notas sobre uma discussão ideológica. In: Bayer G, organizador. Tecnocracia e Ideologia. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro; 1975, p. 121-144. reinforced the need to take leisure as a matter of state policy, which should be planned by technical measures regulated by agreements reached through free communication among those concerned. This position brings Lenk3030. Lenk H. Tecnocracia e tecnologia: Notas sobre uma discussão ideológica. In: Bayer G, organizador. Tecnocracia e Ideologia. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro; 1975, p. 121-144. closer to Habermas and takes him away from Marcuse’s ideas, for whom technical management reified human relations.

In his analysis of school Physical Education curricula, Marinho identified specific problems for which he proposed particular solutions. This way of solving issues refers to case-by-case modes of action. Philosophical Casuistry is understood as the analysis and classification of “cases of consciousness”, that is, of problems derived from the application of scientific, moral, and philosophical knowledge to human issues4848. Marinho IP. Ruy Barbosa: paladino da Educação Física no Brasil. Brasília: Horizonte ; 1980.. It should be noted that the use of methodologies based on Casuism is frequent in the Sciences of Law, recalling that Marinho had also been educated in the legal area. Oliveira, Santos, Schneider, and Ferreira Neto3333. Oliveira ASF, Santos W, Schneider O, Ferreira Neto A. Inezil Penna Marinho: lugares e práticas em periódicos da Educação Física. Movimento2015;21(3):575-590. Doi: https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.48020
https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.48020...
point out that the search for a dialogue with the Law also permeated other texts produced by Marinho, especially in the areas of Sports Administration and History of Physical Education in Brazil. Such authors understand this procedure as an intentional strategy adopted by Marinho to consolidate the representation, in the academic field of Physical Education, that the epistemological legitimacy of his writings was rooted in the high level of erudition they possessed.

The case-by-case problems detected were the lack of interest of students in the school environment as a whole; the poor learning of motorsports skills among students; and the inexistence of a gymnastic method that would motivate teachers and students to teach and practice it. To solve them, Marinho suggested an interdisciplinary epistemology to base the organization of school Physical Education curricula; gymnastic exercises as formal prerequisites of sports motor learning; and the construction of a national gymnastic system based on unique elements of the Brazilian people’s body culture, with emphasis on capoeira, whose main anthropological mark is the ethnic miscegenation.

Finally, the non-acceptance of the idea that consciousness constitutes an epiphenomenon of the brain reveals Marinho’s distance from the current known as Materialism in Philosophy of Mind3232. Engel P. Neurosciences et recherches cognitives. In: Pradeau JF, editor. Histoire de la Philosophie. Paris: Seuil; 2009, p. 678-688.. It is important to point out that the assumption that the body’s manifestations resulted from the activity of a soul whose point of integration with the matter was the coordinating activity of the brain presumes the anteriority and superiority of spiritual activity over contingent reality. Hence, it follows that, for Marinho, the substance of the soul was not only dissociated from any elements in common with the properties of extensive things but was irreducible to them. The assumption of this position, about the examination of the problem, shows the adhesion of the author to notions coming from Cartesianism and Plato’s Theory of Knowledge.

One limitation of this study was the exclusive use of documentary material as sources of historical information regarding Inezil Penna Marinho’s personal and professional trajectory.

Conclusion

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the origins of the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports in Brazil, taking the hypothesis that the writings of the intellectual Inezil Penna Marinho published between the ’40s and ’80s decades of the 20th century were the first ones holding this matter. To guide the study, four questions were elaborated: 1) what values were attributed to Physical Education in these speeches? 2) What functions did sport, gymnastics, games, and systematic physical activity get in the author’s philosophical writings? 3) What doctrines, philosophic approaches, and thinkers did he choose to support his approaches? 4) Have any traditional philosophical problems reappeared throughout the interpretations made?

Taking into account the first question, Marinho elucidated that Physical Education has ethical, axiological, aesthetical, epistemic, psychoanalytical, educational, political, and metaphysical attributes. In this sense, it is rooted in the main areas of the philosophic western thought. To demonstrate this insertion, he developed argumentations whose key parameters came from the History of Philosophy.

Answering the second query, the sport, gymnastics, games, and systematic physical activities emerge in his books, papers, and dissertations as the hegemonic historical contents assumed by Physical Education through the flow of time. They are the medium whose inner formal structures encompass the attributes listed in the paragraph above. It is important to underline that gymnastics is the content that crosses almost all the analysis of the author. The motives for this eventual trend needs to be scrutinized with more accuracy in his texts. This is a horizon for future research.

Regarding the third question, Marinho dialogued with Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Juvenal, Thomas Morus, François Rabelais, Michel de Montaigne, Francisco Fenelon, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi, Friedrich Herbart, Herbert Spencer, Pindar, Locke, Freud, Marcuse, Saint Augustine, Léon Batista Alberti, Marsílio Ficino, Tommaso Campanella, Giordano Bruno, Epicurus, Marcus Aurelius, Descartes, and Bergson. In terms of philosophic schools, this constellation of thinkers proves he examined the ideas, notions, and categories developed by Aristotelianism, Platonism, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Evolutionism, Empirism, Freudism, Critical Theory, Hedonism, Platonic Theology, Stoicism, Cartesianism, and Bergsonism.

It is important to complement that the methodological option to join philosophic information from different authors and schools to support his arguments put Marinho in direct agreement with the proposal of the philosophical Eclecticism. Another relevant observation related to the search of the grounds of Physical Education and Sports in the History of Philosophy is that such attitude situates the author as an epistemological Foundationist.

Still in the range of the third question, Marinho endorsed poetry as a source of philosophical truth. Maybe, this vanguard position was due to the habit of writing poems since he was a teenager, but this biographic influence must be more investigated. Another biographic trait that possibly interfered in his investigations was the condition of Jurist. In the specific case of the studies related to Physical Education curricula, he adopted a Casuistic approach, which is usually in the Law Sciences. However, this second hypothesis also needs to deepen the analysis.

Concerning the fourth question, five classical philosophic problems appeared in Marinho’s production, viewed through the lens of Physical Education: 1) happiness as a transcendental demand; 2) the nature of the correspondence between language and reality; 3) the duality mind-body; 4) the historical conflict between freedom and domination; 5) the constitution of the subject.

The present study shows that the Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports in Brazil has its own traditions. Future research enriching the documental information displayed with oral contributions obtained from former students of Marinho that are still alive will be welcome. An application of this study is its incorporation in the curricular matrices of graduate and post-graduate courses of Philosophy of Physical Education and Sports since it brings new data that needs to be communicated to the academic community as a step for further confrontation, debate, and ectification/validation.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    06 May 2022
  • Date of issue
    2022

History

  • Received
    16 Mar 2021
  • Reviewed
    10 Feb 2022
  • Accepted
    16 Feb 2022
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