Sports: From Emotion to Reflection

This symposium is the first of its kind organized in France and the United States due to its international dimension, its interdisciplinarity, and its desire to break down barriers between the academic and sporting worlds. It aims to formulate the major theoretical and practical issues related to the future of sports competition by inviting leading French, European, and American intellectuals from all academic disciplines to engage in dialogue with top French athletes and Olympic medalists about their practices and their shared interests in sports and competition. The conference will take place over two days in two different locations: at INSEP in Paris on April 15, 2026, and at New York University's Maison Française in New York on April 22, 2026. The conference will be open to the public upon registration and accessible via videoconference.

Organized in partnership with INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance, the University of Popular Sport and La Maison Française of NYU.

Sports: From Emotion to Reflection is made possible through the generous support of CIC.

Program

9:00 a.m.

Opening of the international conference by

Phillip Usher, Director of La Maison Française, Professor of French Literature,

Thought and Culture, and of Comparative Literature, New York University

Stéphane Floccari, Professor at INSEP

9:15 a.m.

Nietzsche on Affects and Emotions in Sport

Yunus Tuncel, Professor of Philosophy, New York University

9:45

The Will to Suffering: Nietzsche, Sport, and the Ascetic Question

Stéphane Floccari, Professor of Philosophy, INSEP, Paris

10:15

Sport as a Laboratory of Passions and the Economy of Desire

Odilon José Roble, University of Campinas, School of Physical Education, Brazil

10:45

What does it mean to be a good player?

Cesar Torres, Professor Emeritus, SUNY Brockport's Department of Kinesiology,

Sport Studies and Physical Education, USA

11:15

Is dialogue possible between sport and yoga?

Ambre Mannu, PhD student in philosophy, Université Paris Est-Nanterre 

11:45

Agon aesthetics and the meaning of the modern game

David Kilpatrick, Professor, Mercy University, New York, USA

12:15

Playing with Fire Without Getting Burned? Effort, Self-Imposed Challenges, and the

Emotional Structure of Sport

Javi Frias Lopez, University of Utah, USA

1:00

Lunch break

2:00 p.m.

Grand round table moderated by Stéphane Floccari, with 

David Kahn, Paris-basketball

Remy Raisner, CEO Raisner Group, former professional basketball player in the

NBA

Ghani Yalouz, Olympic silver medalist in wrestling at the 1996 Atlanta Games

Gévrise Emane, Olympic bronze medalist at the London Games in 2012, five-time

European champion and three-time world champion in judo

Jean-Luc Marion, of the Académie française, professor emeritus at Sorbonne

University and The University of Chicago (Divinity School)

4:15 p.m.

Will sport survive its achievement as a show?

Jean-Luc Marion, of the Académie Française, professor emeritus at Sorbonne

University and The University of Chicago (Divinity School)

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