Knowing the Score: What Sports Can Teach Us About Philosophy (And What Philosophy Can Teach Us About Sports)

by David Papineau

Overview

In Knowing the Score, philosopher David Papineau uses sports to illuminate some of modern philosophy's most perplexing questions. As Papineau demonstrates, the study of sports clarifies, challenges, and sometimes confuses crucial issues in philosophy. The tactics of road bicycle racing shed new light on questions of altruism, while sporting family dynasties reorient the nature v. nurture debate. Why do sports competitors choke? Why do fans think God will favor their team over their rivals? How can it be moral to deceive the umpire by framing a pitch? From all of these questions, and many more, philosophy has a great deal to learn.

An entertaining and erudite book that ranges far and wide through the sporting world, Knowing the Score is perfect reading for armchair philosophers and Monday morning quarterbacks alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465049684
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David Papineau is a professor of philosophy of natural science at Kings College London and a distinguished professor of philosophy at the City University of New York. The author of eight philosophy books, Papineau lives in London, United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Focus

Chapter 1 Having Your Mind Right 9

Chapter 2 In the Blink of an Eye 21

Chapter 3 Choking and the Yips 35

Part II Rules

Chapter 4 Professional Fouls and Political Obligation 53

Chapter 5 Morality, Convention, and Soccer Fakery 63

Chapter 6 Cads of the Most Unscrupulous Kidney 75

Part III Teams

Chapter 7 The Logic of Fandom 93

Chapter 8 Sporting Teams, Spacetime Worms, and Israeli Soccer 103

Chapter 9 Mutualism and the Art of Road Cycle Racing 115

Chapter 10 Game Theory and Team Reasoning 131

Part IV Tribes

Chapter 11 Civil Society and Sporting Eligibility 147

Chapter 12 Sporting Nations and Political Geography 161

Chapter 13 Race, Ethnicity, and joining the Club 175

Chapter 14 Nature, Nurture, and Sporting Families 187

Part V Values

Chapter 15 Amateur Values and Ulterior Motives 201

Chapter 16 The Coase Theorem and Sporting Capitaism 211

Chapter 17 History, Tradition, and the Meaning of Football 221

Chapter 18 Shankly, Chomsky, and the Nature of Sport 233

Soporific Postscript 249

Acknowledgments 251

Notes and Further Reading 255

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Papineau's engaging book takes a look at a philosophical problem presented by a sport and links it to phenomena in the wider world."

From the Publisher

06/15/2017
Papineau's (philosophy, Kings Coll. London, UK; Philosophical Devices: Proofs, Probabilities, Possibilities, and Sets) book isn't what this reviewer would think of as a typical "philosophy of sport" book that applies ethics and philosophy to sports. Instead, the author takes the more interesting approach and uses sports to explain philosophical theories. Areas covered include athletes' ability to focus, rules of sports, teams, tribes, and values. In each chapter, the author applies several different sports to explain the various theories. One difficulty that Papineau brings up is in including sports that have a wide global appeal so that readers will understand his examples. He succeeds by using baseball, soccer, golf, and cycling along with cricket and rugby to explain topics such as game theory, logic, and morality. While the reader will be rewarded by taking in the entire work, each chapter can also be read by itself. VERDICT Papineau's very accessible and passionate work should interest sports fans and philosophers who are looking for a unique intersection of the two topics.—Scott Duimstra, Capital Area Dist. Lib., Lansing, MI

Library Journal