Value of Sport

What makes sport/games valuable (or not)?

1. Achievement (Hurka)
2. Play (Tasioulas)
3. Teamwork (debate: Boxill vs. Ryall)
4. Developing character (but Idaho study suggests otherwise)

Idaho study (Sharon Stoll and colleagues and students, 30 years of research)

Center for Ethics

HBVCI Survey

Results
Powerpoint 

• slides 6-10
• more on gender: slides 24-25

Article

Survey you took (4 fake questions + 12 real questions, vs. 21 on original survey) 

• How to score (first read disclaimers below)
• you are not a research subject 
• we are not assuming the survey accurately tests moral character
• the survey is a basis for discussion

What are the ethical assumptions behind the study?  The paragraphs below are from this webpage (scroll down).

The HBVCI is based on three of these universal codes of conduct: honesty, responsibility, and justice. Using deontic theory, definitions for honesty, responsibility, and justice were developed. 

For the HBVCI: 

Honesty is defined as the condition or capacity of being trustworthy or truthful. Honesty, in this sense, is a basic character that society espouses - an ideal of moral development...to be honest in thought, word, or deed. Honesty, therefore, is the code of conduct which takes into consideration lying, cheating, and stealing, and refers to the honest person as one who follows the rules and laws. 

Responsibility is defined as accounting for one's actions in the past, present, and future. We are responsible for our acts, if, and only if, we did the act or caused it to occur. A responsible person is morally accountable and capable or rational conduct.

Justice is defined as an equity or fairness for treating peers or competitors equally. Justice is the quality of being righteous or of dealing justly with others. It is based in the integrity of doing the right or fair act.

Is this the right sort of ethics for sport?

• We will be looking at that in the next unit of this class
• But first--value of sport for fans