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98 Chapter Ten As sportsmen develop environmental virtues with regard to conservation of the biotic good, they also become aware of threats to field sports. Threats presented by animal rights advocates are ethically based, often focusing on the potential cruelty of field sports. The view I present in the previous chapters is my answer to these critiques: if field sports are sources of environmental virtue, and virtue ethics is a well founded ethical theory, then field sports are ethically justified. Other even more serious threats to field sports, however, come not from these actual opponents, but rather from unexpected social and economic directions. As we shall see in the chapters that follow, the public image of field sports has, in many ways, been hijacked and co-opted by some of the very institutions and groups that claim to be friends and defenders. The poor public image of field sports is also very much enabled by the behavior of many hunters and anglers. If field sports are to be ethically justified in terms of virtue development for the biotic good, those forces tending to undermine this end must be exposed and opposed. And, most importantly, solutions and alternatives must be proposed. Field sports have the power to develop an ecological character. This is a good thing for sportsmen and, if my argument is correct, good also for the biotic community. But, while having an ecological character is necessary for the justification of field sports, it is insufficient. The existence of a cadre of virtuous sportsman does not suffice by itself to modify the behavior of other participants in field sports. Personal “image enhancement” will not preserve the future of field sports. For example, when sportsmen, honestly or not, try to shield others from the actual nature of the practices of hunting and fishing, they are not addressing the central problem. The images of hunting and fishing portrayed in the public realm by forces of commercialization and competition have a power that overwhelms any “clean clothes, clean plate” campaign. One need only pick up any magazine devoted to field sports to see the problems: even when the articles assume that field sports are connected with some virtues, the advertisements for vacations, gadgets, and fast boats undercut this goal. We need to be able to argue that those economic, political, and institutional goals moving field sports away from environmental virtue are wrong. And to do so, we need to state in plain terms how the virtues ChapterTen:FieldSportsandCivicVirtue Field Sports and Civic Virtue 99 of field sports are being compromised. This may form the basis of public appreciation and, perhaps, continued acceptance of field sports. RenewingtheStandardofExcellence Leisure activities play an important role in redirecting our conceptions of the good life, in remaking our pursuit of expertise and excellence. While these ideas might initially seem implausible, they have strong historical support. As we’ve seen, Aristotle held it to be true. More recently, Leopold supported the claim. Classical leisure activities are unimpeded and chosen for their own sakes; they are thought to be occasions of that perfect happiness sought by all. That is, during their performance, we experience that freedom and satisfaction often absent during impeded or other controlled activities. Of course, we need to keep in mind that not all “leisure activities” are such: shopping or playing video games are pale imitations of the more robust and skillful activities classically recognized as leisure. Within this narrower conception of leisure, participants will wish to continue their activities in order to pursue the satisfactions derived from progress toward achieving excellence. In the case of field sports, there are two potential impediments to their continuation. First, the biotic community must be healthy enough to support the activities. Second, the civic community must see some value in field sports sufficient to allow for their continuation. As such, participants must act to maintain the right social conditions. If we like to fish, and clean water is required for us to do so, then we must insure that water quality is maintained and improved. Thus the health of the biotic community in which we wish to hunt and fish must be maintained. But also, the social and political environment must be conducive to these activities. For example, if we wish to hunt or fish, we will need public access to hunting and fishing places. We must therefore attempt to bring it about that there will continue to be such places. Since I’ve already discussed the first ecological point...

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