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The philosophy of sports is a relatively young discipline in China which we argue, can be divided into four stages of development over the past four decades. This paper attempts to map the history of this development and provide an indication of how Chinese sport philosophy has contributed to the global development of research in this area. Stage one (1980–1985) focused primarily on ontological issues such as the nature of sport philosophy and the definition of ‘体育’ (Chinese pinyin ‘tiyu’, a term refering to sports, physical education and other physical activities). Stage two (1986–1996) saw an expansion of research and publications in sport philosophy that encompassed a variety of topic areas, including ethics and aesthetics. Scholars also began to introduce foreign works into their own research as well as turning to the traditional Chinese bodies of thought such as, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, to explore philosophical issues in sport. The third stage was a period of relative stagnation (1997–2003) until Chinese sport philosophy expanded steadily, arguably thanks to the awarding of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Over the past 15 years (the fourth stage), Chinese sport philosophy has made further contributions in ontological, ethical and aesthetic study of sports, which is shown in the increasing number of new doctoral dissertations, books and journal papers published. However, it still faces challenges. In recent years, there have been fewer conferences or symposiums on sport philosophy which has led to a decline in academic exchanges, resulting in a divided focus of resources rather than progression within a common community of academic interests. For this to be rectified, there needs to be greater opportunities for academic exchange and dialogue as well as the creation of professional associations and journals for Chinese sport philosophy.

Research Question: How do legal norms and reasoning processes, in relation to selection appeals, underpin the concepts of good governance and professionalism in sport?\ud Research Methods: This is primarily a theoretical paper that outlines the reasoning techniques and methodology of law as an academic and professional discipline in interpreting, explaining and understanding arbitral decisions related to selection in sport. It draws upon four exemplar cases from the UK dispute resolution body, Sports Resolutions, to illustrate the over-arching norms and principles inherent in legal reasoning and demonstrate how they form part of the normative framework for good governance.\ud Results and Findings: This paper demonstrates how legal reasoning processes, exemplified by dispute resolution cases, provide indicators of good governance in sport. It suggests that a basic understanding of key legal norms and the legal reasoning process would reduce the likelihood of arbitration and appeal against decisions made by SGBs. It concludes that there should be greater dissemination of arbitration decisions by dispute resolution services and that these decisions should be used as education and professional development tools to illustrate the way in which legal norms and reasoning processes are applied.\ud Implications: This paper demonstrates the importance of legal norms and reasoning processes to the concept of good governance in sport. It illustrates how better knowledge and understanding of the way in which arbitral judgements are reached could facilitate improved policy creation and implementation, thereby enhancing good governance, increased professionalism and more robust decision making within SGBs.

There has been extensive debate among various disciplines about the nature and value of play. From these discussions it seems clear that play is a phenomenon with more than just one dimension: as a specific type of activity, as a form or structure, as an ontologically distinctive phenomenon, as a type of experience, or as a stance or an attitude towards a particular activity. This article focuses on the importance of the playful attitude in sport. It begins by attempting to describe the underpinning features of a playful attitude, and its relation to Suits’ lusory attitude and the concept of gamification. Finally, it considers and critically evaluates the relationship between play and sport and the importance of the playful attitude in sporting activities. The purpose of this paper is a far deeper analysis of the playful attitude and its relationship to sport than has been previously provided, and a more precise definition as to what the playful attitude is. This will ultimately help to answer questions about the value of sport and how sport ought to be played.

The landscape of sport shows conspicuous discursive and material disparities between the responses to openly violent on-field transgressors and the responses to other kinds of transgressor, most notably drug-users. The former gets off significantly lighter in terms of ideological framing and formal punishment. The latter – and drug-users in particular – are typically demonised and heavily punished, whilst the former are regularly lionised, dramatized, celebrated and punished less severely.\ud The preceding disparities cannot be upheld from the standpoint of morality in general or from that of a Broad Internalist sport ethic. Consideration of the consequences, actions, motives and vices involved in the respective categories fails to support them. Nor is support provided by the notion that sports are tests of the physical skills and virtues that the obstacles presented are designed to foster and promote, and behaviour that threatens the opportunity to exercise those excellences or have competitions determined by them should be the subject of critical moral scrutiny. Openly violent on-field transgression does not fare at all well by the yardstick of Broad Internalism. Robust investigation of and ultimate change in the values underpinning the disparities is warranted.

Whilst there have been other historical and sociological analyses of sports films, Sport and Film provides a contemporary and systematic exploration of both the evolution of sports film and how this genre is a prime exemplar of wider cultural values. Its primary thesis is that mainstream sports films ‘play a crucial role in sustaining and affirming the myth of achieving the American Dream’

This chapter focuses on the relation between ‘philosophy’ and ‘games’ and argues most of philosophy is a form of game-playing. Two approaches are considered: Wittgenstein’s notion of family resemblance and Suits’ analytic definition of a game. Both approaches support the assertion that the relationship is a close, if not categorical, one but it is the lusory attitude that is the ultimate determinant.\ud As noted in Ryall (2013), Suits took up Wittgenstein’s challenge that the concept of a game could not be analytically defined. Suits attempted to demonstrate otherwise and therefore both approaches are used in our analysis.

The majority of – usually moral – problems inherent in elite sport, such as whether athletes should be able to take particular drugs, wear particular clothing, or utilise particular tools, arguably stem from a conceptual one based on faulty logic and competing values. Sport is a human enterprise that represents a multitude of human compulsions, desires and needs; the urge to be competitive, to co-operate, to excel, to develop, to play, to love and be loved, and to find meaning in one's existence. From the perspective of an amateur athlete, this pluralism is possible. When one is involved in athletics at the lower echelons, the values that one holds in relation to sport are fluid and flexible; they are prioritised according to a myriad of other influences that are contingent to a particular situation. As such, the reasons that the general population participate in athletic activities and the values they consequently ascribe to it are complex and wide-ranging and thus fall into the sociological realm. The philosophical problem with value in sport is found at the highest level, the professional platform, where discordant values are espoused, particularly the value of ever increasing quantifiable performance. The athletic events at the Olympic Games are the archetypal manifestation of thisCitius,Altius,Fortius(faster, higher, stronger) aphorism and yet when taken to its logical conclusion becomes evidently absurd.

This paper considers Tannsjo's claim that sport is the last bastion of sexual discrimination by segregating sport into male and female categories and asks whether it would be fairer to utilise a different means of dividing competition.

Despite frequent calls by players, managers and fans, FIFA's resistance to the implementation of goal-line technology (GLT) has been well documented in national print and online media as well as FIFA's own website. In 2010, FIFA president Sepp Blatter outlined eight reasons why GLT should not be used in football. The reasons given by FIFA can be broadly separated into three categories; those dealing with the nature and value of the game of football, those related to issues of justice, and those concerned with the practical implementation of GLT. This paper intends to evaluate these eight reasons in order to assess whether there are, indeed, any good arguments against GLT in football.

This article considers the social construction of mental toughness in line with prevailing social attitudes towards success and dominance in elite sport. Critical attention is drawn to the research literature which has sought to conceptualise mental toughness and the idealistic rhetoric and metaphor with which it has done so. The concept of mental toughness currently reflects an elitist ideal, constructed along the lines of the romantic narrative of the ‘Hollywood hero’ athlete. In contrast, the mental and moral virtues which should form the basis of mental toughness are often neglected when an athlete ‘fails’. Currently, mental toughness exists as a characteristic used to describe successful athletes and is only applied in hindsight. Finally, we recommend that the morally problematic association of mental toughness (within the media, society, and the research community) with ultimate success needs to be removed in order to rescue the concept from the elitist discourses which currently surround and suffoc...

Recent media speculation on the applications and effects of developments in genetic technology when applied to sport have tended to elicit predominantly negative or fearful pictures of genetically modified athletes with super-human abilities, with phrases such as ‘Frankenstein athletes’, and ‘sporting Armageddon’. However, I wish to argue that such pictures arise as a consequence of being misled by the metaphors that are used to describe and explain genetic processes and phenomena. Whilst accepting Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) claim that metaphor is a necessary part in our understanding of the world, I will argue that a literalization of these metaphors, illustrated through examples in the media, elicit (limiting) pictures of the world. Ultimately, it is argued that we need to be careful that the pictures we hold about genetic technology in sport do not arise purely as a consequence of being bewitched through our language.

Being a substitute in sport appears to contradict the rationale behind being involved in that sport, especially in those sports where substitutes frequently remain unused or are brought on to the field of play for the final moments of that game. For the coach or manager, substitutes function as a way to improve the team achieving a particular end, namely to win the game; whether to replace an injured or tired player, to change a team's structure or tactics, to complete a specialised manoeuvre (such as goal kicking in American football or a short corner in hockey), or to run down the clock. Whether a substitute is afforded an opportunity of playing the game appears to be directed by others; arguably if one had a choice in the matter one would chose to be on the field of play rather than off it. Nevertheless, the Existentialist position is that our situation is always inexorably one that is freely chosen. To argue that one has not freely chosen one's position is to be ‘inauthentic’. Furthermore, to conceptu...

Henri Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis (2004) articulates space as an embodied experience of rhythms. His theory asserts the importance of the instant of ‘lived’ practice (Lefebvre, 1991). Following a practice-as-research methodology, this chapter explores findings from a series of performances that have taken place in the UK built environment. This practice of free, improvised play is understood as a critique of dominant and normative rhythms in this setting. This chapter asserts the bodily capacity to sense and respond to rhythm from external entities within close spatial proximity, and is a development of knowledge produced through the act of playing.

This is the first edited collection of articles on philosophical issues in play. It begins with conceptual questions about the nature of play, before considering what various philosophers (such as Plato, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Sartre, Deluze and Gadamer) had to say about it. The final section is dedicated to applied issues within play faced by parents, play-workers, children and adult gamers.