In this Book
- Sport, Philosophy, and Good Lives
- Book
- 2013
- Published by: University of Nebraska Press
There’s more to sports than the ethos of competition, entertainment, and commercialism expressed in popular media and discourse. Sport, Philosophy, and Good Lives discusses sport in the context of several traditional philosophical questions, including: What is a good human life and how does sport factor into it? To whom do we look for ethical guidance? What makes human activities or projects meaningful? Randolph Feezell examines these questions along with other relevant topics in the philosophy of sport such as the contribution of play to a meaningful life, the various reasons for pessimistic views of sport, the various claims that celebrated athletes are role models, and the seldom-questioned view that coaches are in a position to offer advice to athletes on how to live or on leadership skills. He also discusses the way that non-Western attitudes found in Buddhism, Taoism, and the Bhagavad Gita might be used to address the vulnerabilities of sports participants.
Feezell draws from current sports issues, popular literature, and contemporary sports figures to shed light on the attraction and value of sports and examine the accompanying ethical issues.
Table of Contents
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Copyright Page
- p. iv
- Introduction
- pp. vii-xii
- Part One. Sport and Good Lives
- 3. Losing Is Like Death
- pp. 49-72
- 4. The Pitfalls of Partisanship
- pp. 73-92
- 5. Sport, Dirty Language, and Ethics
- pp. 93-128
- Part Two. Sport and Ethical Guidance
- 6. Celebrated Athletes and Role Models
- pp. 131-154
- 7. Coach as Sage
- pp. 155-184
- Part Three. Sport and Meaning