The Tendential Theory of Sporting Prowess

Abstract

The results of sport would not interest us if either they were necessitated or they were a matter of pure chance. And if either case were true, the playing of sport would seem to make no sense either. This poses a dilemma. But there is something between these two options, namely the dispositional modality. Sporting prowess can be understood as a disposition towards victory and sporting liabilities a disposition towards defeat. The sporting contest then pits these net prowesses against each other. The stronger will tend to beat the weaker but no more than tend. This makes sense of the sporting contest in which the weaker knows they still can win. The stronger team can lose though they don't tend to do so. The dilemma is thus escaped.

Is Competitive Elite Sport Really Morally Corrupt?

“…Based on this view, segregation into groups of approximate equals is necessary for turning the activity into a challenge in which winning is appreciated as an achievement, regardless of the participants' absolute level of ability. A similar view of competition has also been expressed by Mumford and Anjum (2014).…”

The aesthetics of sport and the arts: competing and complementary

“…Both those options deny the athletes any control -because both deny there is any alternative to the actual outcomes that the athlete is able to bring about. Instead, the solution is in terms of tendencies once more: the better athlete tends to beat the weaker because they have a power to do so (Mumford and Anjum 2014). Training hard so that you have the requisite sporting skills increases your likelihood of success, though this will in almost every case be a matter comparative to the other contestants.…”

Simon on Luck and Desert in Sport: A Review and Some Comments

“…Modern classics such as Huizinga (1955) and Caillois (2001) provide detailed discussions of chance and luck in play and games. Scholars such as de Wachter (1985), Morgan (1985), Loland (2002), Kretchmar (2012), Kobiela (2014) and Mumford (2014) discuss more explicitly competitive sport. As in most other areas of the philosophy of sport, Robert Simon has offered important insights here as well.…”