Practical rationality and sport practices : a MacIntyrean theory of sport

The purpose of this study was to develop an account of sport to assist sporting communities in improving the normative conditions of their sports. The examination begins with a look at the moral problems plaguing elite sport today. At the root of these is the instrumental reasoning used by athletes, coaches, owners and administrators to justify the use of sports as vehicles to fame and fortune and the failure of these community members to act on behalf of their sports as social practices. Three accounts of sport from the sport philosophy literature-formalism, conventionalism and anti-formalism-lack the normative strength to protect sports from corruption because they do not give community members guidance concerning which changes or actions will be beneficial or harmful to their sports. A fourth theory, broad internalism, provides internal principles or criteria that offer such guidance, but does not give community members a deliberative space in which to discuss and debate the best interests and problems of their sport. As a theory that creates just such a space, Alasdair Maclntyre's theory of practical reasoning is a strong candidate to be fashioned into a more complete version of broad internalism. This Aristotelian theory establishes the internal goods of social practices like sport as their ultimate ends or teloi. In sports, these goods are the skills, strategies and challenges set forth by the rules, the standards of excellence attained within a particular sport, and the significant traditions that make the sport a meaningful activity. A sport's internal goods thus form a foundation from which community members can deduce the virtues and actions that are best for that sport. Finally, the nonnative strength of the Maclntyrean theory of sport is established through its application to two contemporary scenarios from elite golf and figure skating. In both of these cases, the deliberative space and nonnative guidance of the Maclntyrean approach offer assistance to community members in solving problems within their sport that formalism, conventionalism and anti-formalism cannot offer. In the final analysis, the theory requires sporting communities to be communities of inquiry, in which members act as vigilant caretakers who critically examine their own actions and the goods and virtues in which they are grounded to insure that they are reasoning in the best interests of their sports.