Good Grasshopping and the Avoidance of Game-Spoiling

Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 35 (2):175-192 (2008)
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Abstract

Traditionally, acts of sportsmanship have been upheld as worthy of praise. The purpose of this paper is to discern whether Bernard Suits’ Grasshopper -- in "The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia" -- would share this approval. The paper begins with a conceptual analysis of good sportspersonship. From this, four action categories are identified including good sportspersonship in the forms of game desertion, changing the game, not trying, and lusory self-handicapping. A strategy for evaluation is derived from the Grasshopper’s theory. Game-playing is defined as action reflecting lusory attitude acknowledgement. Game-spoiling is introduced as action demonstrating lusory attitude abandonment. Three of the four actions categories are characterized as game-spoiling including good sportspersonship in the forms of game desertion, changing the game, and not trying. It is concluded that genuine good sportspersonship is characterized solely by altruistic forms of lusory self-handicapping.

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Citations of this work

The Paradoxes of Utopian Game-Playing.Deborah P. Vossen - 2017 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 44 (3):315-328.

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References found in this work

Right Actions in Sport: Ethics for Contestants.Warren P. Fraleigh - 1984 - Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers.
Are Rules All an Umpire Has to Work With?J. S. Russell - 1999 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 26 (1):27-49.
Triad Trickery: Playing With Sport and Games.Klaus V. Meier - 1988 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 15 (1):11-30.
Fair Play as Respect for the Game.Robert Butcher & Angela Schneider - 1998 - Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 25 (1):1-22.

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