Pacifism and olympism

Side notes to a letter from La Fontaine to de Coubertin

Abstract

In 1894 Henri La Fontaine wrote a letter to Pierre de Coubertin apologizing for not being able to go to Paris and attend the first Olympic Congress. Both La Fontaine and de Coubertin shared similar aims and values. But La Fontaine could not participate because he himself had organized the first Congress of the International Peace Bureau during the same period. We should now interpret this missed encounter in a symbolical way, that is: it is us who can exploit the opportunity of analyzing and giving credit to values such as Olympism and Pacifism. Far from being just utopian dreams, they should, instead, be appreciated as “holistic” methodological approaches.