The Moral Aesthetics of Loss

Linus Mealey

Linus Mealey is a final-year undergraduate studying Arabic and Linguistics at Warwick. His academic work explores language, power, and performance. Outside of university, he trains as an amateur boxer, where he examines how philosophical and ethical questions emerge through physical confrontation.

About the Project

What does it mean to win ethically, aesthetically, and spiritually? In the ring, the visible contest is often only the surface. Beneath it lies a deeper struggle: for style, for integrity, for something that transcends the scorecard. To interrogate that struggle, I turn to Friedrich Nietzsche’s reflections on nobility and ressentiment; to Muscular Christianity’s vision of moral virtue through sport; to Michel Foucault’s theory of discipline and tactical power; and to Erving Goffman’s insights into social performance. Through the lenses, the match becomes far more than a simple win or loss. It becomes a case study in the moral aesthetics of loss.

- Linus Mealey