The Ethics of Sport

We encourage children to play sports from an early age in order to instill in them such virtues as teamwork, perseverance, respect, fairness, and discipline, but, as perennial scandals in the headlines show us, sports also give rise to thorny ethical problems. Can the ugly, corrupt side of sports counteract their potential to deepen our moral lives and make a positive impact?

This accessible book tackles a wide-ranging array of topics that arise in ethics of sport on every level, from amateur to professional, and from the general to the specific.

Ethics of sport expert Robert Simon examines provocative, thorny questions throughout the book: Why do we care so much about sports? Do sports embody special values that social function views fail to grasp? Are such values good or bad? What counts as overemphasizing winning? Should winning be important in youth sports? What makes cheating in sports ethically objectionable? Is trash-talking cheating? How have performance enhancing drugs affected sport? Can we distinguish them from other advances that enhance performance, such as technological improvements in equipment? Should contact sports be modified to protect the health of athletes? Do organized athletics belong in schools? Don't athletic programs undermine academics in secondary and college education? Would it be better to separate sports and education, so schools focus on academics? Do sports undermine or reinforce gender equity? Why do so many elite athletes misbehave? How have professional sports affected minority groups and the underprivileged? Is money ruining elite sport?

Simon's short exploration of the ethics of sports, which unfolds in this series' distinctive question-and-answer format, will interest sports enthusiasts, those who seek to understand the ethical controversies in sport even from an outsider's perspective, and students of applied ethics who need a primer on sports ethics in particular.

"We encourage children to play sports from an early age in order to instill in them such virtues as teamwork, perseverance, respect, fairness, and discipline, but, as perennial scandals in the headlines show us, sports also give rise to thorny ethical problems. Can the ugly, corrupt side of sports counteract their potential to deepen our moral lives and make a positive impact?"--Amazon.com.

Robert Simon's The Ethics of Sport raises serious questions about honesty, fairness, expectations of excellence, the value of competition, and the role of sports in contemporary society. Simon treats these issues and many more in a manner that is carefully balanced and illuminating of issues far beyond sports themselves. --Leslie P. Francis, Distinguished Professor of Law and Philosophy, Alfred C. Emery Professor of Law, and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development in the College of Law, University of Utah

An easy-to-read analysis of ethics by one of the world's most highly respected sport philosophers. Simon employs a question-and-answer, conversational format, one that is peppered with interesting anecdotes. A must read for anyone interested in sport ethics. An important book that plumbs the depths of complex sport ethics questions and relates answers to everyday concerns about values, justice, and fair play. Simon puts to rest, once and for all, any claims that sport is a trivial or otherwise uninteresting phenomenon. --Scott Kretchmar, The Pennsylvania State University

As someone who often has to figure out what's right and wrong in sports, it's comforting to have a bible to offer me guidance. That good book - great book, really - is Bob Simon's The Ethics of Sport: What Everyone Needs to Know. Whether he's addressing the issues involved in the body politic of athletics, or the human body itself, Professor Simon conducts the class that every sports fan, executive and athlete should audit. --Steve Wulf, Senior Writer, ESPN

The fact that simon is able to draw some examples from his own experience coaching an NCAA Division III golf team lends the discussion a sense of authenticity that will win Simon credibility with readers. [He] is judicious and fair-minded in his presentation of a range of conflicting views. - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport