IAPS @ Central APA: Call for Abstracts

The 2012 APA Central Division meeting will be held at the Palmer House Hilton hotel, Chicago, Illinois, Wednesday, February 15 to Saturday, February 18, 2012.

If you would like to present a paper at a session sponsored by IAPS, email an abstract of 250 words or less to Mike Austin, mike.austinatsymbol.eku.edu.

Deadline for Abstracts: September 15, 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?