Friday, October 2, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Rooting for U. S. Steel
I had a good weekend. The NY Yankees clinched the American League East, and the NY Giants shut out Tampa Bay.
I've been a Yankee fan since childhood, but even as my interest has waxed and waned over the years, I am happy when they do well.
It was said during the 1950s that "rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U. S. Steel." Which got me wondering why people choose to root for the underdog.
There are some tentative explanations on the web:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071012200500AAjY5rH and
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/12/24/why-do-we-root-for-the-underdog/1699.html
But I am wondering how philosophers of sport think about the question . . . why do we root for the underdog? Should we root for the underdog?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Diving and the Integrity of Soccer
Cesar Torres, the current president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport, has this piece for the NY Times on the integrity of soccer.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
IAPS Website Redesign
The newly redesigned website for The International Association for the Philosophy of Sport is now live.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Publication Announcement: Philosophical Perspectives on Gender in Sport and Physical Activity
Edited by Paul Davis, Charlene Weaving
There are a broad variety of sex and gender resonances in sport, from the clash of traditional ideas of femininity and athleticism represented by female athletes, to the culture of homophobia in mainstream male sport. Despite the many sociological and cultural volumes addressing these subjects, this collection is the first to focus on the philosophical writings that they have inspired. The editors have selected twelve of the most thought-provoking philosophical articles on these subjects from the past 30 years, to create a valuable and much needed resource.
Written by established experts from all over the world, the essays in this collection cover four major themes:
* sport and the construction of the female
* objectification and the sexualisation of sport
* homophobia
* sex boundaries: obstruction, naturalisation and opposition.
The book gathers a broad range of philosophical viewpoints on gender in sport into one unique source, subjecting the philosophical origins and characteristics of some of the most controversial topics in sport to rigorous scrutiny. With a balance of male and female contributors from both sides of the Atlantic, and a comprehensive introduction and postscript to contextualise the source material, Philosophical Perspectives on Gender in Sport and Physical Activity is essential reading for all students of the philosophy of sport, sport and gender, and feminist philosophy.
There are a broad variety of sex and gender resonances in sport, from the clash of traditional ideas of femininity and athleticism represented by female athletes, to the culture of homophobia in mainstream male sport. Despite the many sociological and cultural volumes addressing these subjects, this collection is the first to focus on the philosophical writings that they have inspired. The editors have selected twelve of the most thought-provoking philosophical articles on these subjects from the past 30 years, to create a valuable and much needed resource.
Written by established experts from all over the world, the essays in this collection cover four major themes:
* sport and the construction of the female
* objectification and the sexualisation of sport
* homophobia
* sex boundaries: obstruction, naturalisation and opposition.
The book gathers a broad range of philosophical viewpoints on gender in sport into one unique source, subjecting the philosophical origins and characteristics of some of the most controversial topics in sport to rigorous scrutiny. With a balance of male and female contributors from both sides of the Atlantic, and a comprehensive introduction and postscript to contextualise the source material, Philosophical Perspectives on Gender in Sport and Physical Activity is essential reading for all students of the philosophy of sport, sport and gender, and feminist philosophy.
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