Bodily democracy. Towards a philosophy of sport for all

Eichberg, H. (2010). Bodily democracy. Towards a philosophy of sport for all. Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge.

Henning Eichberg is a very well known cultural sociologist and historian at the Faculty of Health Studies, University of Southern Denmark in Odense.

The book is a scholarly and convincing collection of already published (as well as some revised) articles by the same author, of which, some are also co-authored with other scholars. Throughout the book, Eichberg throws down the gauntlet towards a true epistemology of sport whilst dealing with the multifaceted world from historical, philosophical and sociological points of view.

The frames and ideas advocated by the book are wide, but it would be useful to start from the discussion in which Eichberg (in Part IV) sketches the paths leading from bodily practices to living democracy. Eichberg deals with the polarity Körper/ Leib, handling the linguistic and historical meanings in diverse cultures, as well as proposing a third configuration to solve the problem of the duality in the languages emphasised in the dichotomy having or being a body. The trialectical way (a typical Eichberg pattern), is symbolised in this case, by the inter-body, differentiating the I-body (Leib) and the It-body (Körper), whose roles and positions are visually represented in the book to display the inner contradictions of the dualistic approach to body issues.

Eichberg argues that the inter-body is a movement culture that finds expression in opportunities presented by sport for all as "dances, games and expressive activities [establishing] a social bodily dialogue" (Eichberg, 2010, 274). It could be advantageous to stress here the relevance of that dialogue rather than the activities themselves, assuming that it is precisely...