IAPS 2003 Notes Annual meeting, 1030am, sat
Andrew Edgar Sport as Performative Contradiction
Apel, cannot critique ethics, because requires employing an ethical discourse to do so.
Gunnar Brievik Is Base Jumping Morally Justifiable?
Are risk sports valuable, representing good values?
Method
Present prima facie arguments Intuitive No ethical theory Testby rational analytical tools Bring in some theoretical aspects towards end
Risk sports
High-risk Reckon with possibility of serious injury or death by doing sport Medium risk – may happen, but under unfortunate circumstances Low-risk – almost impossible to get serious injury
Arguments – expense for rescuing jumpers
Should be prohibited? Paternalist: base jumpers do not know what they are doing Moralist: persons are egotistic and selfish
Require 200 jumps from plane before you can jump from a cliff!
If prohibit base jumping, then must prohibit many others
What kind of people are involved in basejumping? - academics, doctors, family people - control freaks - standing at edge: scared to death
Ivo Jirasek Ontology of Experience and Extreme Sports
Friday 1030am TC201 Dewey and competitive
Democracy and community for Dewey are necessarily intertwined
Charlene Weaving The Hooker: analogy between prostitution in sport Julia Roberts in sport Nussbaum: prostitution should be decriminalised - people against it support inequality
Keith Thompson Sport and Utopia
Henri Rousseau ‘the Footballers’ – Guggenheim NYC - utopian, since nothing of conflict within it - they are playing about, not playing o in Thompson’s utopia, must be the latter
what seems ideal is totally boring - ideal of completing a round of golf in 18 strokes - challenge is only a challenge if you can fail to meet it
concept of utopia implodes and we are well rid of it
replace utopia for intrinsica
Simon Eassom for the IOC, distinction between natural and unnatural is necessary distinction on which the condemnation of technology is based
Ray Williams – Nature problematic concept – Materials of Culture
Nature as absence of man’s influence
We possess a nature and behave according to these ways
HN does not mean that we participate in a nature
We are precisely designating those features.
Notion of our having a nature carries similar …. As saying that animals do not have one
Exclude modes of conduct that do not conform to animal norms
Sport is one remaining arena where natural is threatened by unnatural (e.g. homoerotica)
Authenticity corrupted by cultural progress (unnatural)
Sport schizonphrenic: primativity of play, cyborgian culture
Enlightenment: development of art, science, cult part of project of rediscovering value of being human
Point is not to return to previous primitivity
Gould vs. Dawkins - Gould rails human chauvinism in definitions of progress - Dawkins: progress as tendency to improve human….
Drug user in sport is denaturalised by media, etc
Frankenstein’s monster as ugly
Male athlete not re-sexed by de-sexed Female athlete loses reproductive integrity
Historicity of nature - ME: but this is not an argument for rejecting the natural, but rejecting a particular conception of the natural
Andrew Courtwright Objections to Maxim - could rethink to use: e.g. When I believe my muscle are not getting enough oxygen, will use epo to boost - motivation for doping: usually a competitive argument, not to get more oxygen to muscles o ME: not sure I accept this, but even if it is true, if I want to do it for that reason, can I?
Final objection - Imagine someone faster than anyone else o If she uses drug, does not seem to be to gain a competitive edge o Depends on how good an athlete you are
Not surprising that Formula of Universal Law generates these objections
Formula of Humanity - Treating someone as means not acceptable (Respect for persons argument) - Treat someone in a way that they cannot consent, not just that they would not consent - By using PE drugs, are treating other competitors as means o But: if develop a technique that others do not have. This seems impermissible. But need to distinguish this from doping.
Kingdom of Ends Formula - indiv agent as part of community of agents - what sorts of maxims are rationally acceptable to community of agents - FKE resembles Rawls’ original position
Not all PE drugs are dangerous, but majority are in the way in which athletes use them. Conclusion: Athletes who dope are performing a wrong action. - Presuming the motivation is to gain a competitive advantage - modify: athletes who dope, just to gain a competitive advantage, are performing a wrong action.
Doping rules are set up to exclude pharma from sport, while other scientists can make a lot of money
Question: based upon your argument, it would seem that iff the motivation is not to gain a competitive edge and is, perhaps, an expression of our ‘posthumanness’, then you do not wish to prevent me from doing this. The problem is, that is the position of international sport.
Saturday 915am shouler@optonline.net If my life is finite, why am I watching this damned game?