Why Olympia matters for modern sport

Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 44 (2):159-173 (2017)
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Abstract

From the modern scientific perspective, Olympia is a ruin at the far end of a fading sense of history that represents little more than the origins from which sport has continuously evolved. Quantitative measurements show continued increases in human performance, equipment efficiency and funding. But some question this athletic evolution. We worry about qualitative issues, such as virtue, meaning and beauty. The source of this contrast is a difference in values: Olympic vs. Efficiency values. Such values establish an ethos in sporting communities that influences how we behave, explain and even conceptualize our activities. I argue from the perspectives of metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics and politics, that Olympic Ethos is needed to balance out the modern Efficiency Ethos, which threatens to dehumanize sport.

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Author's Profile

Heather Reid
Exedra Mediterranean Center, Siracusa, Sicily

Citations of this work

Performance-enhancing drugs as a collective action problem.J. S. Russell & Alister Browne - 2018 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 45 (2):109-127.
Responsibility, Inefficiency, and the Spirit of Sport.Heather L. Reid - 2018 - American Journal of Bioethics 18 (6):22-23.
Boredom, sport, and games.J. S. Russell - 2024 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 51 (1):125-144.

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References found in this work

After Virtue.A. MacIntyre - 1981 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 46 (1):169-171.
The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia.Bernard Suits & Thomas Hurka - 1978 - Peterborough, CA: Broadview Press.
Are Rules All an Umpire Has to Work With?J. S. Russell - 1999 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 26 (1):27-49.
Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport.Heather Lynne Reid - 2012 - Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Watching sport: aesthetics, ethics and emotion.Stephen Mumford - 2012 - New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

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