reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page i The Philosophical Athlete

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1 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page i The Philosophical Athlete

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3 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page iii The Philosophical Athlete Heather L. Reid Carolina Academic Press Durham, North Carolina

4 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page iv Copyright 2002 Heather L. Reid All Rights Reserved ISBN LCCN Carolina Academic Press 700 Kent Street Durham, North Carolina Telephone (919) Fax (919) Printed in the United States of America.

5 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page v To My Students

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7 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page vii Contents Preface: What Is a Philosophical Athlete? Acknowledgments x i x v Introduction 3 What We Can Learn from Sport 3 Four Characteristics of a Philosophical Athlete 1 1 Part One Discovering Your Self S e ct i on Preview: Know Thyself 1 3 Chapter 1 Discovering Yourself as Unique 1 7 Chapter Preview: The Art of Being Who You Are M o m e nts of Challenge: A Lived Question A l one with Oneself Con f ront i ng Oneself from the Inside-Out 2 8 Chapter Review 3 3 Chapter 2 Discovering Yourself as Embodied 3 5 Chapter Preview: My Body, My Mind, Myself Athletic Bodies: From Divine Images to Lab Specimens Have Athletes Lost Their Minds? The Athlete s Embodied Self 4 8 Chapter Review 5 3 v i i

8 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page viii v i i i Contents Chapter 3 Discovering Yourself as Free 57 Chapter Preview: The Experience of Freedom in Sport F reedom from Physical Reality F reedom from Psychological Limitations F reedom Is a Matter of Choice 70 Chapter Review 74 Part Two Taking Responsibility S e ct i on Preview: Choose Thyself 7 7 Chapter 4 Responsibility for Actions and Attitudes 7 9 Chapter Preview: Mind Games Athletic Free Agency: Responsibility for Act i on A d o p t i ng a Stance on Sport: Responsibility for P e rc e p t i on A d o p t i ng a Stance on Oneself: Responsibility for Self 9 0 Chapter Review 9 4 Chapter 5 Taking Responsibility for Life and Death 9 7 Chapter Preview: Risking, Losing, Dying R i s k i ng in Sport L o s i ng: A Metaphor for Death D y i ng Chapter Review Chapter 6 Taking Responsibility for Values and Meaning Chapter Preview: Finding Meaning in the Athletic Life G e t t i ng the Big Pict u re D e c i d i ng What Matters: Purpose and Wo rth M a p p i ng Out a Meaningful Future Chapter Review 1 3 6

9 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page ix Contents i x Part Three Showing Respect S e ct i on Preview: The Ethics of Perf o rmance Enhancement Chapter 7 Showing Respect for Your Self Chapter Preview: Vi ct o ry and Vi rtue in Sports G e t t i ng Clear About Goals (Head) M o t i v a t i on (Heart) Discipline and Desire (Gut) Chapter Review Chapter 8 Showing Respect for Others Chapter Preview: Sport, Violence, and Respect for Others Competitors Teammates Co aches Chapter Review Chapter 9 Showing Respect for Your Sport Chapter Preview: Can High-Tech Equipment H a rm a Sport? The Rules The Culture The Int e rnal Goods Chapter Review Part Four Working with Others S e ct i on Preview: Drugs, Sport and the Just Society Chapter 10 Liberty and Authority Chapter Preview: Freedom of Expre s s i on or Excessive Celebra t i on? Sport as a Social Cont ract Negative Freedoms in Sport 2 2 3

10 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page x x Contents 10.3 An Athlete s Obligation to Sport 228 Chapter Review 234 Chapter 11 Equality and Difference 237 Chapter Preview: White Men Can t Jump? Equality in Sports: Ideal and Real The Hidden Power of Social Inequality Equality in the Sports Cont ract 251 Chapter Review 255 Chapter 12 Fairness 257 Chapter Preview: Title IX Fair Play in the Sports Cont ract Rewards, Merit, and Ent i t l e m e nt What Are the Limits of Fairness? 271 Chapter Review 277 Conclusion 279 The Game of Life 279 Twelve Questions for the Philosophical Athlete 281 Selected Bibliography 283 Index 293

11 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page xi Preface What Is a Philosophical Athlete? The concept of a philosophical athlete goes back to ancient Gre e c e and a young wrestler named Plato who would go on to be count e d a m ong the greatest thinkers of all time. Plato liked to describe philosophical dialogue in terms of wre s t l i ng moves and stra t e g i e s. 1 To him, and many others in ancient Greece, the philosophical struggle for tru t h was absolutely akin to the athletic struggle for vict o ry. Sport and philosophy were for Plato, as they are for this book, the twin pillars of edu c a t i on. So it s not merely coincidence that western philosophy and competitive athletics have a common origin. Ancient Greek society provides a real-world model for how the synthesis of sport and philosophy can fuel the pursuit of personal excellence (areté) and the dynamic, thriving happiness the Greeks called eudaimonia. E d u c a t i on was for them, as it is for us, aimed at ac h i e v i ng a good and happy life. The problem is that in modern society we ve retained our athletic pro g rams but lost sight of the con n e ct i on between education, excellence, and happiness. Of course, few modern athletes are more than vaguely aw a re of their con n e ct i on to Plato and the ideals of ancient Greece. As a collegiate cyclist churn i ng out lonely miles in the hill count ry around Charlottesville, Vi rginia, I thought little about such matters b e y ond their obvious con n e ct i on to the Olympic games. For me, cycling was more than an escape from the books and lect u re halls of the university, it provided a formidable challeng e a set of tangible standards by which I could test my personal mettle. I dreamt, like so many others, of an Olympic medal. 1. See, for example, Euthydemus d. x i

12 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page xii x i i Preface But as I pedaled along, imagining myself atop the Olympic podium, head bowed to receive a cold disc of gold, my visions were less about the medal than about the I capable of winning it. The real task was to create the Olympian self, to cultivate the virt u e s the discipline, the c o u rage, the self-knowledge I believed all Olympians had. Somehow I sensed that happiness would come not from the wealth or adora t i on victories can bring, but from being the kind of person w h o is capable of winning in the first place. On those long painful climbs or the cold wet morn i ngs when I knew others stayed in bed, I hoped ultimately to become the kind of person who deserved a medal this much m o re than the medal itself. N o w, as a middle-aged college professor who never did stand upon that Olympic podium, I can nevertheless say that sport brought me a l ong way toward being the kind of self I hoped would win a medal. L o o k i ng back at my early athletic career through the lens of my ac a d e- mic tra i n i ng, I now see the con n e ct i ons to Platonic ideals, Aristotelian v i rtue-ethics, and Stoic self-cre a t i on. I can say I was a philosophical athlete before I understood Plato, or the Greek con c e p t i ons of excellence, e d u c a t i on, and happiness. I can also say that, at the time, I felt alone as a philosophical athlete. People understand the goal of an Olympic medal, college scholarship, or pro f e s s i onal care e r, but no one seemed to fathom the sheer beauty of con q u e r i ng a challenge and experiencing, if only for a mom e nt, the dynamic perf e ct i on we so doggedly seek. Even athletes avoid talking about such moments among themselves. I t s easier not to deviate publicly from what one is expected to say. So I kept my personal thoughts about sport and the int o x i c a t i ng struggle for excellence to myself. Professors couldn t understand my devotion to s p o rt and coaches derided my emphasis on academics. I felt like I was the only person in the world who saw the con n e ct i on. It wasn t until I began teac h i ng a course in the subject that I realized I was far from alone in my philosophical appro ach to sport. Refle cted in my s t u d e nts eyes (many of whom are active athletes harboring the same lofty goals I once did) I see the desire for personal excellence shine through the f ru s t ra t i on of being asked to articulate their re a s ons for part i c i p a t i ng. Initial re s p onses to the question Why sport? cluster around extrinsic re w a rds such as wealth or admira t i on from others. Students cite their scholarships, hopes for pro f e s s i onal careers, or desire to please p a re nts, coaches, and peers as their re a s ons for playing sport. As the

13 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page xiii Preface x i i i class wears on, however, they talk more freely about such intrinsic rew a rds as self-knowledge, individual ac c o m p l i s h m e nt through hard work, and personal con fid e n c e. Obviously not every student who takes my class ends up a philosophical athlete, but nearly all gain a healthy perspective on the pract i c e to which they devote so much of their time and energ y. I am writing this book in the hope that many more can benefit fro m t a k i ng a philosophical appro ach to sport. After taking my class, stud e nts often end their post high school hiatus from sport. Others persist past collegiate team-sports to begin individual athletic activities such as ru n n i ng, swimming, or cycling. Misguided motivations such as wealth, fame, or pleasing Mom and Dad sputter in the high school and college years as our childhood d reams fade and the reality of adulthood sets in. But a philosophical athlete focuses on the intrinsic re w a rds of sport such as self-knowledge, ethical virtue, and learn i ng to work with others as a team. These rew a rds pay off endlessly in terms of useful living skills and personal happiness. This book will try to cultivate the philosophical perspective that empowers sport to enhance life. The philosophical athlete knows that the greatest oppon e nt is the self, the greatest challenge personal excellence, and the greatest re w a rd true happiness. By taking a philosophical a p p ro ach to sport, athletes of all ages, shapes, and sizes can reclaim the e d u c a t i onal value of athletics as it was championed in ancient Gre e c e by such great thinkers as Plato, the wre s t l e r.

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15 reid 00 fmt auto2 8/7/02 2:00 PM Page xv Acknowledgments I can only ment i on a few of the many who have helped me with this book. Thanks, first of all, to my advisor Gareth B. Matthews, who enc o u raged me to develop my first course on philosophy and sport, and kudos to the students in those courses who worked with me to develop, and challenged me to communicate, these concepts. Thanks also to M o rn i ngside College in Sioux City, Iowa, for pro v i d i ng the support nece s s a ry to complete the manuscript, and to my students and colleagues t h e re who off e red their criticism and expertise. In addition to Matthews, I am grateful to R. Scott Kre t c h m a r, Lillian J. López, Bruce Forbes, and Jan Hodge, for their helpful comments on the manuscript. I am also indebted to Lynn Kogelmann for her caring assistance through the ent i re p ro j e ct. Finally, special thanks go to my husband, La rry Theobald, for his genero s i t y, patience, and support. x v

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