Philosophy 307: Philosophy of Sport [under construction]

Note: This article is dedicated to the athletes and administrations involved in the XVIII Commonwealth Games, held in Melbourne, Australia, in March 2006.

Contents

Introduction

Part A: Sport the product

Section n: Sorts of sports

G1: One on one sports
G2: Team sports
G3: International sports

Section n: Analysis of one on one sports

G1 (qualitative aspect): positive result (win), negative result (loss), neutral result (draw). Positivity or negativity of result is relative to individuals, so value of result is good/bad,

G2 (relational aspect): result follows competition
within cooperation (adherence to rules),

G3 (quantitative aspect): result emerges from competition within cooperation between two individuals (and their trainers, if any).

Section n: Analysis of team sports

G1 (qualitative aspect): same as for one on one sorts, except that the result is a good/bad for (i) individual team members, and (ii) teams counted as individuals, and (iii) team administrations (including team coaches) counted as individuals.

G2 (relational aspect): result emerges from (i) cooperation between individual team members and (ii) competition between two teams within cooperation of two teams (adherence to rules of game), and (iii) competition between several (that is, more than two) teams within cooperation (adherence to administrative rules of the sport), and (iv) competition between individual team administrations within cooperation (adherence to administartive rules of the sport). Both sorts of rules (rules of game and administrative rules) are rules that are allowed under the laws of the state).

G3 (quantitative aspect): results emerge from competiton within cooperation between (i) two teams at 'games level' and, (ii) several teams at 'teams level', and (iii) several team administrations at 'administration level'.

Section n: Analysis of international sports

G1 (qualitative aspect): same as for one on one sports, except that results are good/bad relative to (i) competing individuals, (ii) competing teams counted as individuals, (iii) competing team administrations counted as individuals, (iv) competing national sports administrations counted as individuals, and (v) competing nations counted as individuals.

G2 (relational aspect): same as for team sports, with the addition that the results emerge also from (iv)competition within cooperation between several national sports administrations (under the rules of the international sports administration, which rules are allowed under (i) the laws of the competing nations and, (ii) international law.

G3 (quantitative aspect): same as for team sports, with the addition that the results also emerge from competiton between (iv) several national sports administrations counted as individuals.

Section n: Theories of the nature of sport

G1: Sport as an analog of interpersonal cooperation and conflict

G2: Sport as an analog of and intercommunity cooperation and conflict

G3: Sport as an analog of international cooperation and conflict

Part B: Sport the process

Section n: Persons in sport

G1: Players
G2: Administrators
G3: Audience

Section n: Sorts of players

indiviual player
team player
star player

Section n: Sorts of administrators

referee
coach
recruiter

Section n: Sorts of audiemces

G1:individual supporter / supporter of an individual

G2: team supporter / supporter of a team

G3: recruiter of individuals / recruiter of teams /

Section n: Values and disvalues in sport

G1: Players' values / disvalues

G2: Administrators' values / disvalues

G3: Audiences' values / disvalues

Section n: Means to the ends of sport (or, sorts of sporting contest)

G1: Means to players' ends

G2: Means to administrators' ends

G3: Means to audiences' ends

Section n: Ethics of sport

G1: The rules of the game

G2: Sporting virtues

G3: The market and sports