For the Love of the Game: A Philosophical Defense of Amateurism

Abstract

Amateurism at the Olympic Games is now little more than a memory. While it is a good thing that the end of amateurism is also the end of the hypocrisy of millionaire amateurs and illicit payments, the rejoicing should not be absolute. This paper argues that the definition of amateur as one who is not paid, and the resulting war against payment of athletes masked a more interesting and more important notion of amateurism. Amateurism is presented as a form of motivation, the desire to perform or compete for the love of the game itself. The rewards for the amateur athlete comes from the internal goods of the game he or she plays. This account of the internal goods of a game can also be used to show why cheating is necessarily counterproductive and why payment may, but need not, be corrupting.