Making Sense of the Philosophy of Sport

Beginning from an earlier claim of mine that there was really no such area of study as the philosophy of sport, Part One of the paper reconsiders the place previously given to David Best’s distinction between purposive sports and aesthetic sports. In light of a famous cricketing event in the 1977 contest between England and Australia (‘The Ashes’), in which Derek Randall turned a cartwheel after taking the winning catch, the paper clarifies that not all aesthetically-pleasing events taking place in sporting competitions can be understood as the aesthetic in sport. Then, in Part Two, the force of the claim that philosophy is one subject is explored. The conclusion is that a focus just on the philosophy of sport is necessarily inappropriate, since it will present the student with only cases from sport to then apply to sport. Rather, one’s understanding must be informed by (much of) the breadth of philosophy. Charles Travis’s view of occasion-sensitivity provides a clear example of appropriately contextual appeal. Part Three of the paper returns to the need for an institutional account of sport, one recognizing that there is no one occasion on which a particular sport is played; and hence no single set of conditions which can uniquely identify that sport. Thus, soccer played with one’s children typically differs from elite soccer: but both are (genuinely) soccer. When one turns to the appreciation of sport (in the light of Stephen Mumford’s excellent Watching Sport: Aesthetics, Ethics and Emotion [2012a]), one recognizes that, in order to genuinely appreciate sport, one cannot detach oneself from the outcome as completely as Mumford’s extreme purist seems to. But reflection on that case may also return us to contextualism by moving us away from attachments to the complete or the exceptionless in our accounts of spectating as of sport: maybe there is no one thing that occurs in all the relevant cases.     

From Ode to Sport To Contemporary Aesthetic Categories of Sport: Strength Considered as an Aesthetic Category

The standpoint of this paper is the distinguished Ode to Sport from Pierre de Coubertin, specifically the second part of the elegy, the one concerning beauty. Starting with “O Sport, you are Beauty!”, Pierre de Coubertin mentions, beyond beauty, an assemblage of aesthetic categories such as sublime, abject, balance, proportion, harmony, rhythm and grace. He also mentions strength, power and suppleness. Although the first quoted categories are general categories of aesthetics, it seems quite relevant to emphasize the need of the author to introduce specific categories that fits to body movement and sport, such as strength, power and suppleness. There is no doubt that the first group of categories also fits to sport and body movement, but it equally fits to different forms of art, while strength, power and suppleness can only be literally applied to sport and performing arts.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze strength as an aesthetic category of sport, developing three main arguments: the feeling of achievement and its conservation, the fight against gravity and the multiple forms of strength’s expression.

It is concluded that strength can improve the communicative power of sport and its emotional appeal. In sports such as gymnastics, diving or synchronized swimming, the appreciation of strength exhibited by the athletes communicates to the observer some king of ease and lightness that enhances the aesthetic judgment. In other sports like weightlifting, sumo or rugby, effort and heaviness are stamped on the athlete's faces, what contributes to a sort of communion between the observer and the athlete that can also improve the aesthetic experience.     

Sport Psychology Foundations,Organizations, and Related Resources

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to introduce psychologists and counselors who work in schools to the field of applied sport psychology. We begin with a brief history of how applied sport psychology developed in North America and other parts of the world. Landmark events such as the development of conferences, professional organizations and scholarly publications are described. This is followed by a discussion of the breadth of services that are typically provided by sport psychologists. The third section examines some of the current issues related to the training of sport psychologists. The final section introduces the reader to organizations, journals, texts, and on-line resources so they may learn more about the theory, research, and practice of Sport psychology.     

慢性腹泻首选抗生素治疗利弊的思考

随着随访医学的不断发展和抗菌素的广泛使用,人类的疾病谱发了巨大变化,慢性腹泻病因也由感染为主转变多元化,非感染性原因越来越多。此外,随着人们对抗菌素的副作用、细菌耐药问题以及抗菌素所致的菌群失调引起的不良后果的认识不断深入,要求临床医生必须重新评价慢性腹泻选用抗菌素治疗的利弊。     

The Inner Game of Sport: is Everything in the Brain?

The article deals with the following: (1) Three brain imaging studies on athletes are evaluated. What do these neuroscientific studies tell us about the brain and mind of the athlete? (2) Empirical investigations will need a neuro-theory of mind if they are to make the leap from neural activity to the mental. The article looks at such a theory, Gerald Edelman's ‘Neural Darwinism’. What are the implications of such a theory for sport science and philosophy of sport? (3) The article appreciates some of the neurosciences applications, but questions the hope of giving a complete theory of mind.     

Being-on-the-Bench: An Existential Analysis of the Substitute in Sport

Being a substitute in sport appears to contradict the rationale behind being involved in that sport, especially in those sports where substitutes frequently remain unused or are brought on to the field of play for the final moments of that game. For the coach or manager, substitutes function as a way to improve the team achieving a particular end, namely to win the game; whether to replace an injured or tired player, to change a team's structure or tactics, to complete a specialised manoeuvre (such as goal kicking in American football or a short corner in hockey), or to run down the clock. Whether a substitute is afforded an opportunity of playing the game appears to be directed by others; arguably if one had a choice in the matter one would chose to be on the field of play rather than off it. Nevertheless, the Existentialist position is that our situation is always inexorably one that is freely chosen. To argue that one has not freely chosen one's position is to be ‘inauthentic’. Furthermore, to conceptualise one's manifestation and to be treated by others as a thing ‘in-itself’–such as a substitute – is to fall into ‘bad faith’. Culbertson (2005 Culbertson, L. 2005. The paradox of bad faith and elite competitive sport. Journal of Philosophy of Sport, 32: 65–86. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has already argued that elite competitive sport is an arena that promotes rather than avoids bad faith due to its constituent factors. Culbertson's frame of reference primarily applied to sporting events that involve individuals competing in co-active, parallel competition – such as athletics, swimming or weightlifting – where bad faith is generated via a tacit acceptance of ever-improving and quantifiable performance. The purpose of this paper is a continuation of such an enquiry but with a redirection of focus away from parallel competition by individuals towards team competitions which are, by nature, less concerned with an unremitting contest against time, distance or some other measurable concept. This paper sets out to examine the nature of the substitute in sport, who appears to be equally liable to find herself being ‘inauthentic’ and/or in ‘bad faith’. It attempts to consider the nature of these concepts and offer direction as to how substitutes can attempt to realise the Existential ideal.     

Images and Symbols in Ancient and Modern Sport

Several aspects of human life are pervaded with images and symbols that often belong to what Jung (1981 Jung, G. Carl. 1981. Archetypes and the collective unconscious, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.  [Google Scholar]) called archetypes, characteristics of the mind with a profound influence on most aspects of culture and sport. The rationality introduced into our society, as the fruit of both the positivist concept of progress and the rapid development of technology, has, albeit while driving out excessiveness due to irrational explanations and often knavery, also disregarded the importance of images and symbols in everyday life. Yet a number of these inevitably still exist, since they are archetypal. With this observation as a starting point, the present work has been designed to analyse whether it is still possible to find ancient images and symbols in modern sport activities. The a priori reason for such a question arises from the acceptance that modern and ancient sports are profoundly different. This has been historically proved in terms of organisation and quantification, among other characteristics (Guttmann 1978 Guttmann, Allen. 1978. From ritual to record, New York: Columbia University Press.  [Google Scholar]).

The present analysis refers to a limited number of images and symbols concerning ancient and modern sport, which include a primordial Ur-symbol, that of bodily action or of body in movement. Others concern various aspects of the athlete's life, such as expression of religious beliefs, immortality, eternal return and the front. It suggests that many of these images and symbols may still be found in contemporary sports, in open contrast with some of the Olympic principles suggested by De Coubertin and chiefly prevalent in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.     

Sport,Wholehearted Engagement and the Good Life

I present an account of the good life as one in which wholesale engagement in the social practices that human agents take up is the signature feature. I then argue that sport, because it is one of a select few human undertakings in which such full-blown action is the rule rather than the exception, is a paradigmatic example of such a good life. I close by claiming that equating the good life with wholehearted action is an especially promising way not only to appreciate the contribution sport makes to our lives but to legitimize that contribution to would-be detractors.     

Jean-Paul Sartre And Team Dynamics In Collective Sport

On the subject of football, Serge Mésonès, former French international turned journalist, wrote that ‘the true miracle remains the birth of a great team; everything which could contribute to this deserves consideration. Whatever happens, the coach and his group will always form that tandem which Bella Guttman used to compare to a symphony orchestra and their conductor: there is a significant difference between the performance when Toscanini is conducting, and that when the conductor is mediocre’ (Mésonès 1992 Mésonès, S. 1992. “Préface”. In L'organisation du jeu en football,, Edited by: Gréhaigne, J. F. 9–12. Paris: ACTIO.  [Google Scholar], 12). With the aim of better understanding the issues of such an assertion, in this article we will develop the theoretical elements that we began to tackle in the book Teaching Collective Sport in Schools (1999).1 1. Original title: L'enseignement des sports collectifs à l'école. This will involve clarifying, and going into detail on, some conceptions relating to the long journey that is the formation of a sporting group, exploring one scenario at a time.     

中国传统哲学范式的现代转型

中国传统哲学范式在历史上经历了从古典范式、近代范式到现代范式的转型,“哲学范式转型”意味着哲学重心的转移和透视问题的角度发生了根本的变迁。20世纪上半叶,可以称为传统哲学范式向现代转型的最初阶段。应当说,传统哲学范式的转型是与历史事件分不开的。传统哲学范式向现代的转型得益于五四新文化运动。它有两个基本的转型路向：首先表现为由意识形态向学术资源或知识形态的转型。这种转型突出地表现为现代新儒学对传统儒学范式进行了新的思考和变革,确立了它的现代形态。其次是为传统哲学范式向现代的转型做了准备,表现在对传统哲学进行了深入的思考和清理,并以新的哲学思想(西方哲学、马克思主义哲学)对传统哲学的整体框架给以全面审视。20世纪初的传统哲学范式的转型是中国哲学史上的一次重大飞跃。自此以后,传统哲学从语言表述到问题视阈,从内容到方法都进入了一个崭新的时期。     

The Naked Spirit of Sport: A Framework for Revisiting the System of Bans and Justifications in the World Anti-Doping Code

As the World Anti-Doping Code is up for revision, the paper proposes a framework for reading the Code based on a relatively literal approach and an almost exclusive focus on the ‘spirit of sport’ as a key element of the Code. The author argues that this single element can contribute to revealing the underlying rationale of the Code, as it serves to justify bans of doping substances and methods, in some cases without recurring to evidence sustaining the claims made. For a substance/method to be banned, the Code requires that two out of three criteria be met: performance enhancement, health risk and the spirit of sport. The paper demonstrates how these provisions link to other parts of the Code, (under the rules of the Code 2009) in the absence of performance-enhancing properties combined with a health risk. The paper draws implications from these findings regarding terminological (im)precision, legal certainty/predictability, transparency/accountability, limits to arbitrary exercise of power and internal/external validity.     

Coping Style Following Acute Stress in Competitive Sport

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ascertain coping styles among competitive athletes in response to various acute stressors. Specifically, the authors used a 134-item survey to measure approach and avoidance coping styles, with task-focused and emotion-focused coping tendencies nested hierarchically as subdimensions under each. Australian and U.S. college-aged participants indicated the extent to which they used approach, avoidance, task-focused, and emotion-focused coping strategies (a 4-factor model) in response to selected acute stressors experienced during sport competition. The authors computed confirmatory factor analysis to test the theoretically driven model. The criterion loading of .30 and above for each of the factors reduced the survey to 65 items. Findings indicated stronger links between the 2 approach constructs of task- and emotion-focused coping than between the 2 avoidance constructs of those subdimensions. The goodness-of-fit indices for the 4-factor model were 0.58 and 0.57 for Australian and U.S. samples, respectively, and .71 overall. Concomitant low correlations between the 2 approach (0.18) and the 2 avoidance dimensions (0.43) reflected relatively high residuals between stressors. In general, psychometric analyses suggest that coping style may be more prevalent in some situations than others, lending partial support for the transactional model of coping.     

High-level Enactive and Embodied Cognition in Expert Sport Performance

Abstract

Mental representation has long been central to standard accounts of action and cognition generally, and in the context of sport. We argue for an enactive and embodied account that rejects the idea that representation is necessary for cognition, and posit instead that cognition arises, or is enacted, in certain types of interactions between organisms and their environment. More specifically, we argue that enactive theories explain some kinds of high-level cognition, those that underlie some of the best performances in sport and similar practices (dance, martial arts), better than representational accounts. Flow and mushin (mindfully fluid awareness) are explained enactively to this end. This results in a mutually beneficial analysis where enactivism offers theoretical and practical advantages as an explanation of high performance in sports, while the latter validates enactivism.     

Sublime Kinetic Melody: Kelly Slater and the Extreme Spectator

This paper aims to examine the awesome, almost spiritual feeling I experience as an ‘extreme spectator’ while watching Kelly Slater ride the monstrous waves of Pipeline. Drawing on the aesthetics of Kant and Schopenhauer, I examine the experience of the sublime and how it, in conjunction with the perceived kinetic melody of Slater's movements and his karmic connection to the environment in which he thrives, gives rise to the deeply felt awe of the extreme spectator. My intention is to use Slater's case as a paradigm that can be applied to many other athletic performances which share the characteristics discussed in the paper.     

From Inexactness to Certainty: The Change in Hume's Conception of Geometry

Although Hume's analysis of geometry continues to serve as a reference point for many contemporary discussions in the philosophy of science, the fact that the first Enquiry presents a radical revision of Hume's conception of geometry in the Treatise has never been explained. The present essay closely examines Hume's early and late discussions of geometry and proposes a reconstruction of the reasons behind the change in his views on the subject. Hume's early conception of geometry as an inexact non-demonstrative science is argued to be a consequence of his attempt to discredit geometrical proofs of infinite divisibility of extension by anchoring the meaning of geometrical concepts in inherently inexact qualitative measurement procedures. This measurement-based attack on the exactness and certainty of geometry is analyzed and shown to be both self-refuting and inconsistent with the general epistemological framework of the Treatise. The revised conception of geometry as a demonstrative science in the first Enquiry is then interpreted as Hume's response to the failure of his earlier attempt to discredit geometrical proofs of infinite divisibility of extension. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

儒学对道德本体的探寻及其评价

儒学将伦理学与哲学相结合 ,探讨道德的本体、本原问题 ,试图为伦理道德提供一个本体论或形而上学的基础。如何评价儒学的这一探讨是一个值得重视的问题。     

一个有待探索的新概念:心性脑病

从共性与个性、整体与局部的哲学观点以及临床上探讨心性脑病的存在,为基础研究和临床治疗提供理论依据.     

The Nctm Standards and the Philosophy of Mathematics

It is argued that the philosophical and epistemological beliefs about the nature of mathematics have a significant influence on the way mathematics is taught at school. In this paper, the philosophy of mathematics of the NCTM's Standards is investigated by examining is explicit assumptions regarding the teaching and learning of school mathematics. The main conceptual tool used for this purpose is the model of two dichotomous philosophies of mathematics-absolutist versus- fallibilist and their relation to mathematics pedagogy. The main conclusion is that a fallibilist view of mathematics is assumed in the Standards and that most of its pedagogical assumptions and approaches are based on this philosophy.