Outlawing Sports/CTE Background

Question this week: Is football so dangerous that it should be outlawed?

CTE background

Joe Ward et al, “110 NFL Brains” ;  Collecting the brains (TED talk)
Michael Powell,  “This Helmet Will save Football. Actually Probably Not”




Ethical background

Which categories of behavior is a government justified in restricting?

Some useful distinctions

• Deliberate, accidental
• Causing, creating risk
• Non-consensual, consensual
• Other-harming, self-harming

(A) Other-harming behavior

1. Committing murder
2. Going to party while awaiting results after being tested for coronavirus (Dartmouth case)
3. Leaving lock down area after quarantine orders (northern Italy)
4. Participating in a duel

Wikipedia

(B) Self-harming behavior

1. Participating in a duel
2. Riding motorcycle without helmet
3. Driving without seatbelts
4. Drinking huge sodas

(C) Offensive but not harmful (we won't discuss)

(D) Immoral but not harmful (we won't discuss)

Positions

Libertarianism: liberty of adults may only be limited in (A) cases (other-harming), not in (B) cases (self-harming).

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859) 

Paternalism:  liberty may be limited in both (A) cases and (B) cases.  

• Sarah Conly, Against Autonomy ( 2013)

Next time

1. Sarah Conly chapter
• Her argument for Paternalism
• Two forms of Paternalism: coercive vs. liberal.
• Why she favors coercive
2. Does football fall in class (A) or (B)?
3. In principle, should football be outlawed?
4. What about other dangerous sports? Free solo climbing, boxing, etc.