Sport, Rules and Values: Philosophical Investigations into the Nature of Sport

by McFee,Graham

• ISBN13: 9780415329644
• ISBN10: 0415329647
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-03-10
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Sport, Rules and Valuespresents a philosophical perspective on some issues concerning the character of sport. Central questions for the text are motivated from real life sporting examples as described in newspaper reports. For instance, the (supposed) subjectivity of umpiring decisions is explored via an examination of the judging ice-skating at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games of 2002. Throughout, the presentation is rich in concrete cases from sporting situations, including baseball, football, and soccer. While granting the constitutive nature of the rules of sport, discussion focuses on three broad uses commonly urged for rules: in defining sport; in judging or assessing sport (as deployed by judges or umpires); and in characterizing the value of sport, especially if that value is regarded as moral value. In general, McFee rejects a conception of the determinacy of rules as possible within sport, and a parallel picture of the determinacy assumed to be required by philosophy.

Author Biography

Graham McFee is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Brighton; and Vice President of the British Society of Aesthetics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction: Sport, rules and values	1	(12)
Organization of the text	1	(3)
Some central ideas for this text	4	(4)
Hope for a philosophy of sport?	8	(1)
A view of philosophy?	9	(2)
The audience for this work	11	(2)
PART I Rules in explaining sport	13	(72)
1 Definiteness and defining sport	15	(18)
The issues	17	(4)
Why define?	21	(1)
A definition (of sport) is neither possible nor desirable	22	(2)
Mistakenly thinking one has a definition	24	(3)
Rule following and definition	27	(1)
The philosophical point (or lack of it) of definition	28	(3)
What is in common?	31	(2)
2 Rule-following and formalism in sport	33	(20)
Formalism: explaining sport in terms of rules?	34	(2)
Criticisms: the adequacy of formalism?	36	(3)
Some defence of formalism	39	(4)
Constitutive and regulative uses of rules	43	(1)
Some general considerations about rule following	44	(3)
Some implications for formalism	47	(2)
An occasion-sensitive view of meaning and understanding	49	(3)
Rule following and understanding	52	(1)
3 Rule-following and rule-formulations	53	(19)
Formalism extended: the idea of more kinds of rules	54	(2)
Alternatives to formalism the ethoi position	56	(2)
Two versions of ethos account	58	(3)
Ethos: a normative account	61	(3)
Rules and the purposes of sport	64	(2)
More fundamental criticisms	66	(2)
Rules and rule formulations	68	(4)
4 Practices and normativity in sport	72	(15)
A view of practices	72	(3)
Ethos, practice and normativity	75	(2)
Customs and rules	77	(6)
Conclusion to Part I	83	(2)
PART II Rules in judging sport	85	(42)
5 Aesthetic sports, publicity and judgement calls	87	(14)
Just about every call is a judgement call	88	(2)
Two kinds of sports?	90	(2)
What is subjectivity?	92	(1)
Two bad arguments for the subjectivity of judgements	93	(3)
Objectivity and options	96	(1)
Aesthetic sports: the importance of judgement	97	(4)
6 Principles and the application of rules	101	(11)
The need to apply the rules (even for purposive sports)	102	(1)
Some cases?	103	(2)
Principles and discretion	105	(3)
A parallel: the moral reading of the American Constitution?	108	(4)
7 Spoiling, cheating and playing the game	112	(17)
Spoiling - 'legal' cheating	112	(1)
The spoiling example	113	(2)
The issue of generality	115	(1)
Finding the real rules?	116	(1)
Some other cases	117	(1)
Cheating and rule following	118	(3)
What is wrong with cheating?	121	(1)
Why obey rules?	122	(4)
Conclusion to Part II: the moral imperative is intrinsic	126	(1)
PART III Rules in valuing sport	127	(50)
8 The project of a moral laboratory; and particularism	129	(20)
Sport's moral dimension?	130	(2)
Explanations and qualifications	132	(5)
The argument	137	(1)
Investigation of the premises	138	(3)
Particularism and moral judgement	141	(3)
Thinking about the moral laboratory	144	(1)
Problem: the moral nature of sport?	145	(3)
Outcomes	148	(1)
9 The value of sport	149	(16)
Reasons for participation in sport	150	(1)
Normative and motivating reasons	151	(4)
Normative reasons, rules and sport	155	(5)
The persistence of value	160	(3)
The remaking of value formulations	163	(2)
10 Relativism, objectivity and truth	165	(12)
The denial of the coherence of relativism	167	(1)
The postmodern challenge: incredulity towards metanarratives	168	(3)
Understanding and the concrete	171	(2)
The postmodern challenge II: reason and science	173	(2)
One sporting world?	175	(2)
Conclusion: Sport, rules and philosophy	177	(6)
Notes	183	(7)
Bibliography	190	(7)
Index	197