Towards an Aesthetics of Archery

British Journal of Aesthetics 64 (1):33-48 (2023)
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Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between archery and aesthetics, developing two central claims. First, in order to deliver successful results, the archer should attend not only to efficiency, technique and equipment tuning but also to the aesthetic experience; second, archery shooting methods embody and express ‘life-issue’ statements and desires concerning our relationship with the world. Depending on the archer’s shooting style, i.e., depending on the way in which a shot is executed and performed, the archer’s ‘sportive philosophy’ is, so to speak, unfolded and made apparent. Specifically, I will argue that instinctive archery strives for flexibility and versatility toward the environment and with respect to one’s own body, whereas non-instinctive approaches sharpen effectuality and results by flattening the surroundings and limiting one’s own performative freedom. Exploring this idea, I will discuss the aesthetic underpinnings of archery, also showing in which ways different shooting methods lay the ground for irreducible aesthetic experiences of self-expression.

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References found in this work

The Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle - 1951 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 143:477-478.
The aesthetic in sport.David Best - 1974 - British Journal of Aesthetics 14 (3):197-213.
Zen in the Art of Archery.Eugen Herrigel & R. F. C. Hull - 1955 - Philosophy East and West 5 (3):263-264.
Differences Between Sport and Art.Christopher Cordner - 1988 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 15 (1):31-47.

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