Social Media Hedonism and the Case of ’Fitspiration’: A Nietzschean Critique

IF 1.6 Q2 ETHICS Sport Ethics and Philosophy Pub Date : 2022-09-09 DOI:10.1080/17511321.2022.2121849
Aurélien Daudi
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT Though the rise of social media has provided countless advantages and possibilities, both within and without the domain of sports, recent years have also seen some more detrimental aspects of these technologies come to light. In particular, the widespread social media culture surrounding fitness – ‘fitspiration’ – warrants attention for the way it encourages self-sexualization and -objectification, thereby epitomizing a wider issue with photo-based social media in general. Though the negative impact of fitspiration has been well documented, what is less understood are the ways it potentially impacts and molds moral psychology, and how these same aspects may come to influence digital sports subcultures more broadly. In this theoretical paper, I rely on the insights of Friedrich Nietzsche to analyze the moral significance of a culture like fitspiration becoming normalized and influential in structuring and informing self-understanding, notions of value, and how to flourish in life. Using two doctrines central to Nietzsche’s philosophy—The Last Man and his conception of the ’higher self’ – I argue that fitspiration involves a form of hedonism that is potentially harmful to the pursuit and achievement of human flourishing. Through fitspiration, desire is elevated to a central moral principle, underlying the way users both consume and produce its content, catering simultaneously to their desires for external validation and instant gratification. It thereby creates conditions which foster a culture in adherence to the ethos of The Last Man. In doing so, I argue it impedes the cultivation of the virtues and higher values which define the higher individual, regarded by Nietzsche as essential for human flourishing. However, drawing on the ethical framework of the higher individual provides the philosophical and psychological resources with which resisting and overcoming the more harmful temptations of these trends may be possible.
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社交媒体享乐主义与“Fitspiration”案例:尼采式的批判
尽管社交媒体的兴起为体育领域内外提供了无数的优势和可能性,但近年来,这些技术的一些更有害的方面也浮出水面。特别是,围绕健身的广泛社交媒体文化——“fitspiration”——值得关注的是它鼓励自我性感化和物化的方式,从而成为基于照片的社交媒体普遍存在的一个更广泛问题的缩影。尽管fitspiration的负面影响已经有了很好的记录,但人们对它潜在影响和塑造道德心理的方式知之甚少,以及这些方面如何更广泛地影响数字体育亚文化。在这篇理论论文中,我依靠弗里德里希·尼采(Friedrich Nietzsche)的见解来分析一种文化的道德意义,这种文化在构建和告知自我理解、价值观念以及如何在生活中蓬勃发展方面变得正常化和有影响力。利用尼采哲学的两个核心理论——最后的人和他的“更高的自我”概念——我认为,渴望涉及一种享乐主义,它对人类繁荣的追求和成就有潜在的危害。通过fitspiration,欲望被提升为核心道德原则,是用户消费和生产内容的基础,同时满足他们对外部验证和即时满足的渴望。因此,它创造了条件,培育了一种坚持最后一个人的精神的文化。这样做,我认为它阻碍了美德和更高价值的培养,这些美德和价值定义了更高的个人,尼采认为这是人类繁荣的必要条件。然而,利用更高个体的伦理框架提供了哲学和心理资源,有了这些资源,抵制和克服这些趋势的更有害的诱惑可能是可能的。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
2.50
自引率
23.10%
发文量
20
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