Today sport seems to be more and more characterised by a double morality. On the one hand there are the ethical and human principles of the founding fathers: fair play, observance of the rules and respect for opponents, and for the competition, intended as a positive value; on the other hand, new and old types of behaviour that seem to prevail in the modern world, i.e. pursuing victory at all costs, annihilation of the opponent and no mentioning of the dominant doping and commercialisation. How should this apparent antithesis be settled? This volume discusses this issue. Besides assessing the values of sport handed down by tradition, the book tries also to reflect on new emergencies, starting from the cybernetic body that is resulting from a new culture, and moves on to more recent technological conquests, up to genetic doping. At the same time, this volume discusses sports ethics in the light of a wider participation of adults, women, of the elderly and the differently abled, up to the representatives of other ethnic groups practising sport in growing numbers and raising problems that need new ethical approaches.
This book, edited by Aldo Aledda, re-examines the papers delivered at the XVI Congress of Panathlon International held in Antwerp, Belgium. Made in collaboration with the local university, the book is substantially based on contributions from the members of the Scientific-Cultural Commission of this organisation, recognised by the IOC and whose main purpose is to affirm ethical values in sport.
These members include Italian, Belgian, South American and Swiss philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and historians, such as Antonio Spallino, Yves Vanden Aweele, Marila Alvarez, Lucio Bizzini and Marc Maes. It is also enriched by contributions from Argentinean philosopher Claudio Marcel Tamburini, from the English and Brazilian sociologists Jim Parry and Antonio Carlos Bramante, respectively, and from the renowned French historian, Georges Vigarello.