Introduces students to philosophical issues surrounding sport. Topics may include: the nature and value of sports, paying college athletes, the use of performance enhancing drugs, the moral responsibilities of fans, the moral downsides to the Olympics, public subsidizing of professional sports teams, athlete protests, sports gambling, gender equity and sports, and transgender athletes, among others.

Learning Objectives

  • Recognize the logical features of a philosophical argument鈥攑remises, rules of inference, types of argumentation, counter examples, etc.;
  • Differentiate between a descriptive claim and a normative claim, and between a philosophical argument and a debate over a matter of taste;
  • Examine various claims according to nuanced and sophisticated standards of evidence, and in a way that recognizes and corrects for various biases;
  • Summarize the competing positions on the given topics clearly and concisely, based on a firm understanding of those positions;
  • Analyze philosophical arguments鈥攖his involves recognizing their various components and the interrelations between those components;
  • Evaluate competing philosophical views on each topic鈥攖his involves providing critiques and/or justifications for the various claims and inferences that comprise each argument.

In this course, you will

  • Cover a wide range of topics in sports, discovering just how many philosophical questions confront us as fans, students, athletes and citizens;聽
  • Discuss the ethical issues surrounding current events鈥揺.g., the Olympics, legalized sports betting, NIL and compensation for student athletes, etc;聽
  • Discuss your own philosophical reflections with your fellow students, utilizing your personal sports related experiences and values;
  • Return聽throughout the semester to philosophical questions that go back to the ancient Greeks: Do sports provide something deep and important in our lives, more than just entertainment, more than mere activities?