Full Description
The breadth of our moral experience is more extensive than has been believed over the past several millennia. There is more to morality than being honest and good, or aspiring to universal principles. In fact, in many ways the morality of our distant ancestors bears a remarkable resemblance to the moral experiences of modern athletes.
In A Moral Theory of Sports, ethicist Richard J. Severson brings together stories from today's sports world and the moral practices of hunter-gatherers to shed new light on both sports and morality. Guided by anthropologists, biologists, neuroscientists, and others, Severson discusses what the moral life actually looked like for hunter-gatherer bands in the late Pleistocene epoch and argues that the championing of group success that was the epitome of their morality is the epitome of modern sports, as well.
With fascinating analogies and anecdotes from football, basketball, tennis, cycling, and more, A Moral Theory of Sports offers a unique interpretation of human nature and our love affair with sports.
Contents
Introduction: The Joy of Running
1: Bullying, Teasing, and the Birth of Conscience
2: The Land of Pretend
3: Coaches and Referees
4: Imitation, Ritual, and Transcendence
5: Excellence without End
6: Neuroscience, Mirroring, and Complementarity
7: Fandom: Why We Watch and Care So Much
8: Cockfighting, Gambling, and Villages
9: Situationism and the Dynamics of Misbehavior
10: Whither the Future?
Appendix: On Moral Psychology and Ethics
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
