The University of Gloucestershire Religion, Philosophy, and Ethics website has several short videos about the Philosophy of Sport with fellow Philosophy of Sport blogger Dr. Emily Ryall. Dr. Ryall is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Gloucestershire.
The videos are good introductions to some interesting questions and important issues in Philosophy of Sport.
Showing posts with label Emily Ryall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emily Ryall. Show all posts
Friday, July 18, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
New Online Sports Journal Looks to be Crowdfunded
Readers might be interested in the launch of a new opinion based online sports journal.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1586916355/the-allrounder
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1586916355/the-allrounder
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Distinguishing the individual and the athlete: cheerleading, sexual assault and drink-driving
A recent news story highlights the case of a 16 year old cheerleader who refused to chant the name of a player who had previously sexually assaulted her, and was subsequently expelled from the squad for doing so. After attempting to bring a compensatory claim against her school which failed, she was ordered to pay $45,000 in costs.
The court ruled:
"As a cheerleader, HS served as a mouthpiece through which [the school district] could disseminate speech – namely, support for its athletic teams. This act constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, HS was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily."
On a similar note, Danny Care has been dropped from the England rugby team for being found guilty of drink-driving after a New Year's party. This again highlights the ambiguous distinction between a private and public life and the rights and responsibilities that come with each. Care was not on duty with the England team at the time and the matter was rightly dealt with by the police and law courts. However, the act was seen to be justification for his dismissal from national selection.
These stories provide us with a couple of interesting philosophical questions:
To what extent is one a free individual in sport?
What bearing should decisions made in one's private life have on one's public sporting life?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Sex Test
For those of you in the UK who can access BBC iplayer, there is a really interesting programme on sex ('gender') tests in sport. Definitely worth a listen.
Viewpoint: Is professionalism bad for sport?
Readers might be interested in this opinion piece from the BBC on professionalism in sport: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14462759
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Brain damage in sport
The problem with ethics is that there is always a gap between what is the case (according to evidence) and what ought to be done about it.
As such, readers might be interested in a news story about former NFL player Dave Duerson who requested his brain be left for medical analysis in his suicide note. If it can be substantially evidenced that certain sports have a high likelihood of significant brain damage, then does it mean that such sports should be banned or drastically altered to reduce this likelihood?
Equally interesting, former Olympic Gold medalist James Cracknell has made a video about the importance of wearing cycling helmets after he suffered brain injury whilst cycling in Arizona. In it, he states that he is no longer James Cracknell as the accident altered his personality but implies that despite this is, this new existence is still preferable to death. Some obvious philosophical questions arise here about identity: if James Cracknell says he is no longer James Cracknell, then who is he? And would that mean that James Cracknell is the equivalent of dead anyway? In which case, wouldn't that undermine his point about the wearing of a cycle helmet?
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