Abstract
A standing debate in philosophy of sport concerns whether sport can count as art in some sense. But the debate is often conducted at cross purposes. Naysayers insist that no sport is an artform while proponents insist that certain sport performances count as artworks – but these are entirely consistent claims. Both sides make unwarranted assumptions: naysayers are purists about sport and art (no transaesthetic purposes) whereas proponents are tokenists about artforms. Naysayers admit that figure skating may count as art yet only in non-competitive contexts. Their burden is thus to explain why a routine (e.g., Torvill and Dean’s ‘Bolero’) may count as art in a showcase but not at the Olympics. The debate is also inevitably framed in terms of whether sport counts as art, neglecting the equally viable question of whether art in some form (e.g., competitive dance) may also count as sport. I conclude in favour of an appropriately qualified sport-as-art thesis.
Highlights
The debate about whether sport can count as art is of long standing if not always of sustained interest
Suppose we cite Beardsley’s aesthetic definition of art as “an intentional arrangement of conditions for affording experiences of marked aesthetic character” (Beardsley, 1979, p. 729; quoted in Arnold, 1990, p. 181). Granting this definition straightforwardly implies that many sports count as art, since playing for aesthetic effect is a part of scoring in some sports and in others is frequently intended as desirable if unnecessary
If we assume that the beauty created in art must not be realized for some further end, that it may have no transaesthetic purpose, sport will be, again trivially, excluded from the art class, since aesthetic effects will either be inessential or essential only as means to the end of scoring and winning
Summary
The debate about whether sport can count as art is of long standing if not always of sustained interest. Where most philosophers begin with established sports and try to determine whether and how they may count as art, I approach the question from the neglected other side by considering whether some art may count as sport, artistic dance in competitive contexts.
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