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Evaluating Technical and Technological Innovations in Sport

Why Fair Play Isn't Enough

University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

This article explores the method of "reflective equilibrium" as a possible decision-making method for the rational evaluation of technical and technological innovations in sporting practices. I use the recent change to the way male tennis players are seeded at the Wimbledon championships to illustrate that although fair play comprises an important part of any evaluation, it only takes us so far. I discuss critically the objection that "wide reflective equilibrium" disregards the diversity and the moral importance of the different cultures in which people live. I argue that although "wide reflective equilibrium" is a praiseworthy procedure for evaluating technical and technological innovations in sporting practices, it is too "thin" a method because it disregards the diversity and the moral importance of the different cultures in which people live in general and sporting practices more specifically. I offer instead the outline of an alternative decision-making method that includes a more embedded conception of the good.

Key Words: rule changes • reflective equilibrium • fair play • ethos • the good

Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Vol. 31, No. 2, 179-194 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0193723507300485


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