Fourth Annual Sport Studies Symposium: Sport Studies: The State of the Art

Rockford University is hosting the Fourth Annual Sport Studies Symposium on Friday, April 24, 2015 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm (CT) in Severson Auditorium, Scarborough Hall, Rockford University, Rockford, IL.

The conference is free to attend and light refreshments will be served.

Panel One: The Study of Sport

•  “Breaking Down Binaries: Considering the Possibilities of a Dialogue Between Science Studies and Play Studies” – Matthew Adamson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) 
•  “The Long, Slow, Tortured Death of Sport Studies in American Colleges (And the Possible Path Toward Resurrection)” – Stephen D. Mosher, Ph.D. (Ithaca College) 
•  “Conceptualizing the Nature of Sport” – Synthia Sydnor, Ph.D. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Panel Two: Sport Studies as Interdisciplinary

•  “Interpreting Interpretivism: A Legal Realist Account of Cheating in Sport” -Aaron Harper, Ph.D. (West Liberty University) 
•  “Then and Now:  Sport and Spectacle in Ancient Greece and Rome” – Stephanie Quinn, Ph.D. (Rockford University) 
•  “'Theology of Sport: Mapping the Field” – Zach Smith (United States Sports Academy)

Symposium Flyer (PDF)

Emily Ryall on Philosophy of Sport

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.

• What is the Philosophy of Sport? A short video interview
• Should we regard Elite Athletes as Heroes?
• Is Sport a form of Art? A video interview with Dr Emily Ryall.
• Sport as form of moral education. Can Sport make us Good?

The videos are good introductions to some interesting questions and important issues in Philosophy of Sport.

And another book... The Bloomsbury Companion to the Philosophy of Sport

Introduction, Cesar R. Torres

Part I: History and Development

• A History of Philosophic Ideas about Sport, David Lunt and Mark Dyreson

Part II: Research Methodology

• The Philosophy of Sport and Analytic Philosophy, Scott Kretchmar
• The Philosophy of Sport and Continental Philosophy, Vegard Fusche Moe
• The Philosophy of Sport, Eastern Philosophy and Pragmatism, Jesús Ilundáin-Agurruza, Koyo Fukasawa and Mizuho Takemura

Part III: Current Research and Key Issues

• Theories of Sport, Robert L. Simon
• Fairness and Justice in Sport, Sigmund Loland
• The Ethics of Enhancing Performance, Sarah Teetzel
• Disability and Sport, Carwyn Jones
• Sport, Risk and Danger, Leslie A. Howe
• Sport and the Environment–Ecosophical and Metanoetical Intersections, Ron Welters
• The Aesthetics of Sport, Stephen Mumford
• Sporting Knowledge, Gunnar Breivik
• Sport and Ideology, Lamartine P. DaCosta
• Competitive Sport, Moral Development and Peace, J. S. Russell
• Sport, Spirituality and Religion,Simon Robinson
• Sport and Violence, Danny Rosenberg

Part IV: Future Developments

• Sport and Technological Development, Alun Hardman
• Conceivable Horizons of Equality in Sport, Pam R. Sailors
• ‘Spoiled Sports’: Markets and the Corruption of Sport,William J. Morgan
• Sport Philosophy around the World, Peter M. Hopsicker and IvoJirásek

Part V: Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts

Part VI: Resources and Careers

• Resource Guide, Emily Ryall
• Careers, Charlene Weaving

Part VII: The Literature

• The Sport Philosophy Literature: Foundations, Evolutions and Annotations, Tim Elcombe, Douglas Hochstetler and Douglas W. McLaughlin

Sport and Artificial Intelligence

Some UK viewers might have seen the recent BBC Horizon programme on Artificial Intelligence which was a remarkable account of the current abilities of cutting edge computers. However, despite computers having surpassed human ability in many areas (memory, calculations, even general knowledge of trivia) they struggle in many areas where humans excel including the ability to learn new skills - particularly that of kinaesthetic skill development. The programme's presenter, Marcus Du Sautoy, demonstrated how he was able to learn the new skill of balancing across a tightrope with an ease which a machine would find nigh on impossible if they had a body equivalent to ours. This thought led me to a quick online search which produced the 2012 robot football cup which shows you how far machines have to go with being as graceful and skillful as a human player. Nevertheless, even if machines were developed to play football with the same skill as a human, the question remains whether they would have any interest in doing so - what would they need in order to hold the lusory attitude that is so vital in sport?

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.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0132l7q/The_Sex_Test/

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

Gender testing in sport... again...

Ian O'Reilly gives an informative and interesting commentary on developments following a symposium in Miami last month whereby it was suggested that those with 'gender ambiguities' undergo surgery if they are to continue to participate in female sporting competitions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8511176.stm

Baseball is a Higher Pleasure

Readers of this blog might be interested in a recent post at my blog that discusses the attitude of philosophers towards philosophy of sport.

Reith Lecture on Genetic Technology in Sport

The BBC's annual Reith Lectures are presented this year by Harvard Professor Michael Sandel and the third programme in the series covers the ethical dilemmas posed by innovations in genetic technology, including the use of this technology in sport.

(This is an issue in which I have particular interest, having written my PhD thesis, entitled 'Genetic Techology in Sport; Metaphor and Ethical Judgment', on the subject)

Why I love Transworld Sport...

Many of my first year undergraduate students are baffled by the time dedicated to considering the concept of 'sport' and its relationship to 'games', 'leisure', 'play', 'recreation' and other concepts. "Of course we know what sport is, we don't need to spend weeks thinking about it" they often lament, as I discuss the notion of conceptual analysis, ostensive definitions, and necessary and sufficient conditions. And unfortunately that's often the response from even the most engaged of students. The others simply shrug their shoulders as if to say, "Why would I care whether something is sport or not?"

There are two prongs of response to such apathy: one, it is an attempt to give some indication of philosophic methods - methods which I fear are severely neglected in many courses on research methods. Definition of terms is crucial in any exegesis of a problem or issue in order to ensure that what you are trying to study is really what you are studying, as well as to ensure that others are clear as to what you are talking about and mean when you use particular concepts.
Two, from a more practical and pragmatic point of view, there are people (who may, in the future, be my former students) who are tasked with the responsibility of deciding whether a particular activity fulfils particular criteria to be allocated funding or a place in an event (such as the Olympic games). Decisions have to be rationalised and justified to other parties (i.e. the public, Governments, the media) and it would simply not be acceptable for such judgements to be made on a whimsical subjective preference.

So where does Transworld Sport come in to all of this? For those of you that are not familiar with the television programme, it is the broadest and most global sports broadcast that exists. For instance, the programme I was watching today highlighted the sport of sheep shearing in New Zealand and the Columbian target sport of Tejo (where a lead weight is thrown twenty meters into a box of clay in an attempt to explode a small paper triangle filled with gunpowder). That such obscure activities are showcased indicates that the concept of sport has an ethereal and ambiguous quality. How can sheep shearing possibly be a sport when it is simply a means to an end in gathering wool to provide warmth and comfort? When it is regulated, timed and primarily done to discover who is the fastest, fittest, and most skilled in displacing one object (wool) from an other (sheep). When is a recreational game that was labelled 'the devil's game' and banned due to its association with an alcoholic drink, a sport? When those involved practice for hours every day, embed gym sessions into their routines, wear a team uniform in a formal event that is officiated by a governing body.



Transworld Sport is a wonderfully democratic and inclusive sports programme that doesn't pander to the hegemonic Westernised, male and affluent business conception of sport with which we are bombarded on a daily basis in the similarly hegemonic media. Rather, it reveals a conception of sport that is as broad and as deep as human imagination allows a physically skilful activity that is bounded by rules but done for its own sake, to be.

European Association for the Philosophy of Sport

This notice is to bring to your attention the new European Association for the Philosophy of Sport website... well it is actually a inter-collaborational Wiki... that can be found on:

www.philosophyofsport.eu

The constitution, members of the executive committee, and associated bodies can all be found on there along with discussion posts and details of forthcoming conferences, etc.

Please take a look and add yourself as a member.

Changing the minds of athletes who cheat

The New Scientist this week (30 July 2008) contains an article with the sub-title, ‘Finding out why some competitors take drugs while others stay clean may be the key to deterring doping’.

As the figures suggest that testing does not deter athletes from cheating, Andrea Petroczi’s (Kingston University) recommendation is that the way to stop doping is to focus upon the psychological reasons why athletes take illegal supplements. This, she argues, is due to an athlete’s belief that s/he is unable to compete without taking these supplements: it is not the fact that athletes are attracted to such supplements because they are illegal, nor do they generally consider consequences on their health, but rather because of their drive to win and their belief that such supplements will aid them in this quest. Petroczi suggests that coaches should therefore work on psychological techniques to change this attitude from one which promotes winning at any cost, to one that encourages a 'mastery' of their chosen sport.

When the lure of big-time success in sport is driven by a competitive attitude towards others, it isn’t surprising that some athletes will do whatever they believe it takes (from training on Christmas Day to taking the latest flashy-marketed nutritional supplement to illegal methods). Those in favour of this psychological intervention, such as Smoll and Smith, from the University of Washington, maintain that performance would not necessarily be adversely affected with a change in attitude, although they do concede that it is difficult to gather the evidence to support this due to the reluctance of elite level coaches to change their methods. Yet even if were able to justify such psychological intervention from an ethical standpoint, I doubt that it would not have an effect on elite-level sport; arguably sport as we know it today is only that because of the mindset athletes’ have. If we take away that attitude then we may well be changing the nature of sport.

The New Scientist article touches upon many of the perennial questions surrounding the issue of doping in sport (which I haven’t covered in this contribution), but it also raises a new one, in what effect would a change in athletes’ attitude have on the nature of elite sport? I'm not suggesting that even if it were possible to change the attitude of every athlete in the world that it would have an adverse effect on top-level sport, but merely disagreeing with the presumption that performances, and therefore elite sport, wouldn’t be affected.

If Petroczi and others are correct in their view that doping can only be eradicated through a change of attitude, then we might need to accept that elite level sport would no longer be as we currently know it. It is either that, or change our attitude towards doping, which might be easier… but then that’s another debate to be had.

Blogpost on drugs in sport

Readers might be interested in this recent blogpost by Julian Savulescu on drugs in sport:

http://www.practicalethicsnews.com/practicalethics/2008/07/how-to-win-the.html