Sport has been a an almost universal human endeavour since antiquity. It has served a powerful social and cultural role in many civilizations. On reflection it is odd that more hasn’t been written about what sport means from a philosophical standpoint. Enter David Papineau to change all that.
Papineau is a British academic philosopher and sports fan who only really began to think of the possible connection between sport and philosophy when he was asked to speak on the topic at a conference around the time of the 2012 London Olympics.
He chose the topic of conscious thought in fast paced sports – notably tennis – for the conference, and from that the idea for this book grew.
He starts the book off with the central question he posed in 2012 – how does an elite level tennis player react so quickly to a serve from an opponent that is coming so fast that they can’t see the ball until after they’ve returned it? How do they choose exactly the right shot and execute before being fully conscious of what they are doing? And what does that tell us about the nature of consciousness itself?
This and other topics are covered in Knowing the Score, which reads like a wide-ranging collection of short introductory essays on a variety of topics that have caught the eclectic author’s interest.
The chapter on fair play and rule breaking is the most thought provoking in my opinion. As in life, there are rules that must be followed in sports, and people whose sole function is to enforce them. But strict adherence to the letter of the law and fair play aren’t always the same thing, and this varies in mystifying ways from sport to sport.
For example, in Cricket it is absolute unheard of for an outfielder to try to deceive an umpire into thinking they made a clean catch. In Baseball it is part of the game and a skill that players work on without any contrition. Yet it can’t be said that Baseball players are cheats while cricketers aren’t. Expectations are simply different in either sport. They both still have equally strong notions of fair play.
This turns out to be a great analogy for the question of a citizen’s duty to obey the law, versus their moral obligation to society.
Other topics are tackled and linked to broader aspects of the human condition. Tribalism, altruistic behaviour, performance anxiety, teamwork, and selflessness. There’s a chapter based around Game Theory. This is the first time I recall Game Theory being used in the context of sports, which I find frankly baffling.
One fascinating section examines the phenomenon of sporting dynasties in certain areas of athletics. Curiously, the sports where these predominate are the ones where genetic inheritance is less important to success. The author explains this counterintuitive finding in erudite fashion.
If nothing else, this book demonstrates that there is a rich vein of thought that could be explored. The present volume covers many areas but doesn’t delve too deeply into any one area.
Papineau finishes up with a treatise on why sport is such a worthwhile activity for both spectators and participants, even though unique among human activities, it doesn’t produce anything that might be defined as inherently valuable or useful.
Despite the impressive academic credentials of the author this is not a densely written book at all, and complex topics are explained very clearly and concisely. At times it could be argued that the material is more akin to extremely well-informed sports writing rather than philosophy, but that still makes it a very welcome addition to the sporting literature.
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