Philosophy Of Sport Research Articles

Should chess and other mind sports be regarded as sports?

ABSTRACTIn the philosophy of sport, an opinion that chess (and other institutionalized mind games, the so-called mind sports) is in fact not sports because it lacks physical skills is a standard position. I call the argument that leads to this conclusion a mind sport syllogism. Its analysis enables me to explicate four possible positions concerning the sport-status of chess. Apart from the standard position, which excludes chess from the sport family, I also present analysis of other possible positions, which – for various reasons – do not deny that chess is a sport. A position that postulates including chess into the family of sport by broadening the definition of sport turns out to be particularly interesting from the philosophical viewpoint. Having confronted this position with the standard, i.e. ‘conservative’, position, I come to the conclusion that the conceptual revision consisting in the broadening of the concept of sport is a rational option and is a probable direction of the evolution of the concept of sport.

Philosophical inquiry in physical education and sport pedagogy: A multidimensional review of its traditions, practices, and prospects

Purpose Philosophical inquiries into physical education and sport pedagogy(PESP) have not been active until lately. A renewed interested has grown as scholars in UK and European countries have begun philosophical analysis since 2000. This study purports to review the philosophical studies in PESP during the last 50 years, and to forecast the future of SP in Korea based on its strength and weakness. Methods Literature review is adopted as the main method, as the philosophical study requires the conceptual analysis on the ideas. The past research, current main studies and future prospects are analyzed according to the three layers of the professional, the theoretical, and the personal dimensions. Results First, in the professional dimension, the philosophical inquiry by the SP philosophers and the educational inquiry by the sport philosophers are identified. Second, in the theoretical dimension, the exploration on the nature of research in PESP, the suggestions of PE models, the examination of teaching-learning in PE, the promotion of teacher/coach education and professional development, and the analysis of PE curriculum issues and policies are actively produced. Third, in the personal dimension, the practitioner research by PE teacher/professor/coach and the self-study of sport coaches have are begun to be conducted. Conclusions For the prospect of PESP in Korea, it can be said that study in the first dimension would not be bright, where as those of the second and the third would be very good for the near future. Key words: Sport pedagogy, Philosophy of sport pedagogy, Philosophy education, Inquiry, Practice.

Keep ‘Em Playing: Strategies for Building Positive Sport Experiences

Recent reports on youth sport participation continue to show alarming trends. Participation rates have been declining, particularly among children between the ages of six and 12 years old. According to the Aspen Institute's Project Play (2016) initiative, fewer young people are participating in organized team sports today than they were in 2008. Reasons for this decline include a variety of intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural factors, and it is concerning for a variety of reasons, especially the decreasing levels of physical activity and increasing rates of obesity among children and youth. Further, the current youth sports landscape has grown increasingly complex. The demands of sport specialization, the prevalence and growth of private sport clubs, an increased focus on travel and competitive sports, the pressure to play on multiple teams in the same season, and the ever-increasing financial costs to participate have all created challenges to youth-sport reform efforts. The purpose of this article is to provide a set of strategies that can be implemented by administrators, parents and coaches and are rooted in a philosophy of youth sport that focuses on athlete development and on creating a positive sport experience by enhancing sport enjoyment, developing “positive push,” and cultivating relationships.

The Proper Place for External Motivations for Sport and Why They Need Not Subvert Its Internal Goods

ABSTRACTA major theme in both of Bill Morgan’s single-author books is that contemporary sport has become corrupted by an increasing emphasis on external goals, in particular money-making, at the expense of its internal values. My goal in this paper is not to contest Morgan’s contention that we need to protect the internal values of the practice of sport. It is, rather, to further analyze the concept of sport’s internal values and their relationship with its external values. First, a naive view, which I have elsewhere called ‘sporting exceptionalism’, denies that sport is a fit subject for moral evaluation in the first place, so any talk of its internal value is misplaced. Second, in recent years libertarian philosophers of sport have advanced more sophisticated arguments that sport’s moral worth arises largely or even solely from the voluntary agreements between participants, rather than any intrinsic value. For Morgan’s critique of instrumental approaches to sport to succeed, we must present a cogent response to this libertarian perspective. Third, it would be Utopian to deny any place at all to extrinsic motivations in the practice of sport. Instead, we need to discuss how much of a role motivations like the pursuit of money, fame, and entertainment can play in sport without diminishing the practice’s internal values. It is to this third issue that the lion’s share of this paper is devoted.

The Purist/Partisan Spectator Discourse: Some Examination and Discrimination

ABSTRACTThe spiralling discourse of sport spectatorship is a compelling development within recent sport philosophy. It is argued that the conceptual foundations of the purist and partisan carry problems. The purist carries the dubious baggage of traditional aesthetics and should be supplanted by the aesthetically neutral cognoscente. The partisan, especially as unpacked by Mumford, is a chimera. Partisanship contains a regard for the excellences of the practice within its own logic. It is argued also that Mumford’s picture of ‘frenetic’ partisanship and ‘tranquil’ purism is over-dichotomised and that partisan response to opposition excellence, and to the plays of one’s own side, is nuanced according to context. The essay also proposes the new concept of the deep partisan, who has a deep and heavily cognitivised love of his club and an intimately connected equivalent love of the excellences of the practice.

Institutionalisation in E-Sports

Following its economic impact and rising popularity, ‘e-sports’ has become a theme within the academic debate on sports. The current discussion revolves around the definitions of sports provided by the philosophy and sociology of sports and how in turn, this can be adapted to e-sports. The premise of this article is the analysis of ‘institutionalisation’, which is claimed to be an element of modern sport. The governance and production aspects of e-sports will be the main focus where the nature of video games with their fractured production process, the lack of a monopolistic international organisation and its relative novelty will be emphasised. Furthermore, the shaky ground on which the term ‘institutionalisation’ stands will be touched on. It will conclude that the current debate on the recognition of e-sports as a sport may experience certain pitfalls if it does not solve the fundamental problems regarding institutionalisation and ignores the production process of video games and e-sports.

The Philosophy of Sport as Artistic Expression

While there is no “expressive theory of sport”, there is certainly, according to Hyland (1984, 1990), Osterhoudt (1973), Kerr (1997) and Weis (1969) a pivotal role played by emotions and feelings in sport which amount to a type of expressive theory and in that sense it parallels expressive theories in art. In this article I will first isolate three moments that capture sports performance and parallel art. Then, I will describe sport as an expression of emotional release, which is often how one understands art. Based on such overlaps, I will argue for two philosophical observations that devolve from such a comparison, namely ineffability and the unity of mind-body (in sport). Finally, I will apply a reading of Kant to sport, in order to substantiate the idea that sport, like art draws from a philosophical heritage.Imagine three isolated “steps” in sport: the focus before performance; the performance itself and the fan’s response as they articulate the emotional basis of sport which is familiar, albeit perhaps subconscious. After a brief analysis of these imagined images, I give a simplified historical outline of sport which describes the feeling-basis of play that forms the foundation for modern sport. I then examine what I have termed the “(surplus) expressive-energy theory of sport” which I have gleaned from the above writers, a theory that argues that sport is the expression of inner emotional states. Such states are in need of expiation of both the practitioner as well as the expression of certain basic emotions on the part of the audience. A narrower version of this theory is that sport is the release of aggressiveness, which coheres with its instinctual origins and the “surplus theory”. A critique of sport as expression (of surplus energy, aggression…) follows with a view to highlight some shortcomings in the ideas presented and thus the need for further theories to account for the multi-faceted nature of sport, a similar requirement that is needed for art given the shortcomings of expressive theories as applied to the arts.

An analysis of underlying factors for implementing privatization in Iranian sport

The purpose of this research was to analyze the underlying factors of privatization implementation in Iran's sport, which was developed by developmental approach. Statistical population of this research was consisted of all managers and experts involved in sports privatization in the country. Regarding that this is a qualitative research, a total of 20 people were selected using the snowball purposeful sampling technique as a statistical sample. The data collection tool was interview. Interviews continued until the theoretical saturation stage was fulfilled. The data obtained from interviews were analyzed in three stages of open, axial and selective coding. The results of the research identified 41 concepts and 5 categories including factors related to financial market, management factors, media factors, cultural factors and legal factors that provide the platform for implementation of privatization in the sport of the country. According to the results of this research, privatization in Iran's sport has been affected by various conditions, it is suggested that sport authorities are encouraged to provide a condition in which people can be trained in order to gain specialty to enter in various areas such as advertising private sector and proper culture creation in press and TV and paying attention to philosophy of sport and culture creation among the people.

Competition in Physical Education: Avoid, Ask, Adapt or Accept?

ABSTRACTCompetition is an essential part of youth sport. But should it also be part of the curriculum in physical education? Or are competitive activities incompatible with the educational context? While some researchers have argued that physical education should embrace the sporting logic of competition, others have criticized the negative experiences it can create for some students in school. In this article, we draw on insights from the philosophy of sport as well as educational philosophy, with the aim of questioning and critically examining the integration of competitive activities in physical education. We present and discuss four normative arguments (AVOID, ASK, ADAPT, and ACCEPT) that can each in their own way inform and guide future talks on the topic.

Philosophy of sport and physical education in Japan for the last four decades

Philosophy of sport and physical education in Japan for the last four decades

К философии физической культуры и спорта (некоторые методологические проблемы)

К философии физической культуры и спорта (некоторые методологические проблемы)

Report: The 2018 Annual Conference of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS)

Report: The 2018 Annual Conference of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS)

The Physicality in Philosophy – Contribution to Sport Philosophy

The Physicality in Philosophy – Contribution to Sport Philosophy

The coach’s role in shaping the attitudes and values of a competitor in Poland after World War II on the example of Wunderteam

The purpose of this publication is to present the concept of sport philosophy, implemented on the basis of certain values between individuals and trainers – Jan Mulak and the Wunderteam - in historically and politically challenging conditions. The article shows certain values, which were headed via outstanding individual cooperation with other great personalities from the world of sports in a way to fulfill a masterpiece – the Wunderteam. The project of creating Polish athletics team was not a programme of self-improvement of outstanding individuals, but was joint international work, which was to serve the Polish society. That concept of genius of Jan Mulak as a coordinator, and his cooperators, initiated huge progress in Polish sports.

스포츠의 공정성과 권력의 인문학적 접근과 사유

This study explores the relationship about the doping, situations of match fixing and elements of power (violence, capital, knowledge) that are most relevant to fairness in modern sport to gain insight into the relationship between fairness and power in sport. In other words, the concept of doping and violence, doping and capital, doping and knowledge are widely interpreted and discussed in relation to doping and power. In sport, doping is done for wealth, honor and for his own satisfaction or self-realization. Anti-doping is a form of relationship between doping and anti-doping, such as suspension of qualification, forfeiture of prize, or medal deprivation. The sanction against doping ignorance also implies unconditional responsibility for athletes and athlete support agents, so they must understand the relationship between doping and anti-doping in sport. Match fixing is same as well. We are aware of the truth that match fixing is bad but we keep on doing it in ignorance or lack of will power. The former is done due to lack of true knowledge (the knowledge we know but do not practice), and the latter is done due to absence of virtue. Scine virtue is related to the habit, continue doing it even though it is wrong, is no longer ignorance but evil. These phenomena are spread all over sport and our society. The fact that doping incidents and match fixing operations are occurring consistently is not a matter of personal ethics of athletes, leaders, stakeholders or the genreal public, but of social ethics. It is now necessary to explore in depth the power which is the product of human basic desires prior to discussing ethical approach and discussion which is the philosophy of sport. This phenomenon will continue to be formed by our visible and invisible powers in the future. If we do not recognize it properly, more serious problems will arise. So this study should be preceded.

Sport as art, dance as sport

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.

Sport Philosophy Inquiry in 3D: A Pragmatic Response to the (Sport) Philosophy Paradox

A paradoxical attitude exists toward professional philosophy: philosophical inquiry is considered important and complex, but professionals are deemed irrelevant and unnecessary. This paradox doubly affects sport philosophy as evidenced by the field’s marginalization in higher education and sociopolitical discourse. To counter the sport philosophy paradox, I present a pragmatically oriented three-dimensional approach to inquiry that turns the field “inside-out”. A community of engaged, melioratively oriented sport philosophy inquirers in this 3D model collectively conducts theoretical (horizontal dimension), applied (vertical dimension), and instrumental (depth dimension) inquiry. Each dimension is outlined in detail from a professional sport philosophy perspective, and implications are considered relative to the field’s future endeavors.

Off Belay! The Morality of Free-soloing

In this paper, we use qualitative and quantitative research, along with reference to current philosophical literature to consider the question of whether the sport of free-soloing is inherently immoral given the unavoidable extreme risk taken by the climber and imposed upon others not directly participating in the sport. The first thing we look at is what kind of values climbers see in free-soloing and show, through interviews we conducted with soloers and through a review of the literature on the philosophy of extreme sports, that climbers derive what might be called ‘higher pleasures’ from free-soloing. We then argue that despite its inherent riskiness, free-soloers ought to be allowed the autonomy and freedom to choose to engage in the sport, provided they are doing so in a conscientious manner. To show that they are, we again appeal to interviews we conducted to demonstrate that soloers decide to attempt a free-solo in a thoughtful manner, as prescribed by philosophers who work on the morality of decision-making under uncertainty. We finally use data that we collected through quantitative research to show that free-soloing does not make those athletes who participate in the sport into risk-taking personalities. Thus, we conclude that the sport of free-soloing is not inherently immoral.

Is it defensible for women to play fewer sets than men in grand slam tennis?

Lacking in the philosophy of sport is discussion of the gendered numbers of sets played in Grand Slam tennis. We argue that the practice is indefensible. It can be upheld only through false beliefs about women or repressive femininity ideals. It treats male tennis players unfairly in forcing them to play more sets because of their sex. Its ideological consequences are pernicious, since it reinforces the respective identifications of the female and male with physical limitation and heroism. Both sexes have compelling reason to reject the practice.

What must I know to be brave?: revisiting the role of knowledge in the exercise of courage in sport

The Platonic definition of courage as the ‘knowledge of the fearful and the hopeful’ is often eschewed by philosophers of sport. In fact, the passionate nature of sport itself seems to testify against such a definition. Hence, accounts of courage within sport tend to emphasize the affective dimension of courage at the expense of the cognitive dimension. This essay argues in defense of the Platonic vision of courage as a species of knowledge as opposed to contemporary attempts to recover the affective dimension of courage, as exemplified by John Corlett. I shall argue that far from producing an overly intellectualized vision of courage, treating courage as a species of knowledge, even within sport, throws valuable light on the exercise of courage in sport and on the shape of sport itself with regards to the exercise of virtue.