Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T21:19:55.645Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - The Art of Leisure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2022

Kevin Hood Gary
Affiliation:
Valparaiso University, Indiana
Get access

Summary

In this chapter, I first consider Alasdair MacIntyre’s neo-Aristotelian notion of “practices.” For MacIntyre, practices refer to special forms of human activity that harbor what he calls internal goods, goods to which practitioners progressively gain access as they acquire more experience. Part of what it means to enact a leisurely state of mind is to become attentive to the internal goods of our practical engagements. At the same time, the activities in which we can cultivate and enact leisure should not only be thought of as “practices,” in the MacIntyrean sense. Attending only to such practices would narrow the range of human engagement in which leisure can be experienced. More provocative is the philosopher Albert Borgmann’s  notion of a focal practice, which resonates with MacIntyre’s account, but includes a broader range of activities that count as worthwhile practices. While Borgmann’s account of focal practices covers what MacIntyre has in mind, it also includes simple activities such as cooking, walking, and reading. Borgmann shows that even, and especially in such engagements, we can experience and further cultivate leisure. Drawing from both MacIntyre’s and Borgmann’s insights, I sketch out three tangible ways to cultivate leisure.

Type
Chapter
Information
Why Boredom Matters
Education, Leisure, and the Quest for a Meaningful Life
, pp. 84 - 108
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • The Art of Leisure
  • Kevin Hood Gary, Valparaiso University, Indiana
  • Book: Why Boredom Matters
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108878319.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The Art of Leisure
  • Kevin Hood Gary, Valparaiso University, Indiana
  • Book: Why Boredom Matters
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108878319.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Art of Leisure
  • Kevin Hood Gary, Valparaiso University, Indiana
  • Book: Why Boredom Matters
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108878319.007
Available formats
×