Papers by Sandra Meeuwsen
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Dec 25, 2023
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, Oct 15, 2024
In Sport Realism: A Law-Inspired Theory of Sport, Aaron Harper, Associate
Professor of Philosoph... more In Sport Realism: A Law-Inspired Theory of Sport, Aaron Harper, Associate
Professor of Philosophy at West Liberty University, introduces a new realist
approach to conceptualize sport. This is the review of Harper's book; it not only summarizes the main thesis, but also critically positions this core thesis in the standing tradition of the philosophy of sport and sport ethics.
Justitiële verkenningen
Afgelopen periode klonk het pleidooi om Marc Overmars, de gevallen technisch directeur van Ajax, ... more Afgelopen periode klonk het pleidooi om Marc Overmars, de gevallen technisch directeur van Ajax, weer terug te halen naar Amsterdam. Overmars moest vorig jaar vertrekken na aanhoudend grensoverschrijdend gedrag richting vrouwelijke collega's. Zij zagen uiteindelijk toch af van aangifte doen. Is daarmee de kous af? Welke dynamiek maakt dat deze vrouwen het erbij hebben laten zitten, terwijl de bewijslast er gewoon is, in de vorm van ongewenste foto's? Ook in andere Nederlandse sporten, zoals turnen, hockey en triatlon, heeft het lang geduurd voordat soortgelijke misstanden aan het licht kwamen. 1 Vervolgens tuigt men een tuchtrechtelijk traject op, dat lang niet altijd de genoegdoening biedt waar slachtoffers naar hunkeren. Deze situatie roept in algemene zin de vraag op of integriteitskwesties in de sport adequaat beslecht kunnen worden via het recht. Om antwoord te geven op deze vraag bevat dit artikel een systemische duiding van het integriteitsvraagstuk in de sport. Vanuit deze analyse volgt een aanvullend recept voor duurzame oplossingen. Van sportethiek naar 'sport integrity' Om dat recept te positioneren volgt hier eerst een weergave van de evolutie van de sportethiek in internationaal verband. Deze toegepaste vorm van ethiek is eind jaren negentig van de vorige eeuw ontstaan. Enerzijds om de jonge vakdiscipline Sportfilosofie te legitimeren-sportethiek zou het nut hiervan moeten bewijzen-en anderzijds
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Apr 3, 2023
In this paper, we present a Lacanian perspective on football, while notably fathoming its normati... more In this paper, we present a Lacanian perspective on football, while notably fathoming its normative dimension. Starting with a defining imperative, the prohibition against 'handling' or touching the ball with your hands, diverging football historically from rugby, we will subsequently focus our attention on the role of the foot, the eye (notably the eyes of the audience) and the 'object a' (in the context of gender). Against this backdrop, we will address pressing issues such as the troubled position of the referee (as an 'impossible profession'), the commercialisation of football, and the rising tides of violence, match-fixing and other instances of systemic deviance. As we will argue, football exemplifies modern sport as an arena defined by prohibitions and desire, by inclusion and exclusion, by purity and abuse, culminating in recent challenges involved in gender trouble. Symbolical practices, like modern football, are based on in-and exclusion. Instead of more regulations and dichotomies, we advocate careful attention to the delicate art of handling desire in practice.
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Dec 7, 2022
In this article, we address the aporia(s) of the Olympic discourse produced by the troubled split... more In this article, we address the aporia(s) of the Olympic discourse produced by the troubled split between sport and politics. To start our argument, we will show that sporting governing bodies continuously insist that they are still on the other side of any kind of politics. Guided by Aristotle, who presented the reciprocity of ethics and politics, we will unveil the fallacy of this discourse. In a short genealogy of the relationship between sport, ethics, and politics, we will highlight the Munich Olympics 1936 and Mexico Olympics 1968, where political engagement of sport was exposed clearly. At the same time, the supposed political neutrality of sport manifested an aristocratic preference for radical right regimes. After that, we will analyse the contemporary relation between sport, ethics, and politics in the light of recent developments, including sport's ambiguous reaction on the Ukraine war. Further argument will be that sport's in-and external politics, supported by sport ethics and the inherited mantra of the split between sport and politics, is more than just a hypocrisy. At the start, modern sport claims autonomy of governance to keep away from state domination, yet this very autonomy also freezes sport's ethical core, forbidding athletes, coaches and others active in sport, to express any political engagement, other than passive acceptance of the regulation by governing sport bodies, as the only politics to be respected without deliberation. In the final part an alternative understanding of the dynamics between politics, the political and sport's ethical core, will be presented to be included in the philosophy of sport and fully developed in following articles.
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2022
In this article, we address the aporia(s) of the Olympic discourse produced by the troubled split... more In this article, we address the aporia(s) of the Olympic discourse produced by the troubled split between sport and politics. To start our argument, we will show that sporting governing bodies con- tinuously insist that they are still on the other side of any kind of politics. Guided by Aristotle, who presented the reciprocity of ethics and politics, we will unveil the fallacy of this discourse. In a short genealogy of the relationship between sport, ethics, and politics, we will highlight the Munich Olympics 1936 and Mexico Olympics 1968, where political engagement of sport was exposed clearly. At the same time, the supposed political neutrality of sport manifested an aristocratic preference for radical right regimes. After that, we will analyse the contemporary relation between sport, ethics, and politics in the light of recent developments, including sport’s ambiguous reaction on the Ukraine war. Further argument will be that sport’s in- and external politics, supported by sport ethics and the inherited mantra of the split between sport and politics, is more than just a hypocrisy. At the start, modern sport claims autonomy of governance to keep away from state domination, yet this very autonomy also freezes sport’s ethical core, forbidding athletes, coaches and others active in sport, to express any political engage- ment, other than passive acceptance of the regulation by govern- ing sport bodies, as the only politics to be respected without deliberation. In the final part an alternative understanding of the dynamics between politics, the political and sport’s ethical core, will be presented to be included in the philosophy of sport and fully developed in following articles.
Dissertation at Free University of Brussels (VUB), Philosophy and Moral Sciences , 2020
Starting from the principle of pure immanence to avoid new normative hierarchies, this Critique o... more Starting from the principle of pure immanence to avoid new normative hierarchies, this Critique of Sports Reason unwinds three major ontological paradigms in modern sports: the still prevailing ‘sport as play’ paradigm, its apparent antipode ‘sport as fight’ and the hidden discourse of ‘sport as sexuality’. In doing so, this philosophical archaeology integrates the continental philosophical approaches of Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Julia Kristeva and Giorgio Agamben.
The first reason why such a process of ‘ungrounding’ is presumed necessary, is the growth of excessive abuses in modern sports, such as violence, sexual assaults, the use of doping and corruption. The second argument to rethink modern sports follows from its progressive instru- mentalization in different societal areas, such as education, health care, inclusion politics and crime prevention. Which conceptions and thoughts underlie the justification of modern sports as a healthy, transformative field? Which assumptions are structurally validated and which elements are ‘banned’ and excluded?
Chapter 1 contains the archeological analyses of the scientifically accepted ‘sport as play’ paradigm. It shows that a selective interpre- tation of both Huizinga’s Homo Ludens, as French phenomenology and Suits’ utopian concept of sport, merely validate the liberating, innocent aspects of sport as lusory ‘game-playing’. Chapter 2 follows the influence of psychoanalyses in the popular, yet shameful narrative of ‘sport as sexuality’. It points out that modern sports seems to accept its contri- bution to biopolitics in promising a continuous fulfillment of bodily desires. In modern sports, the ‘use’ of bodies is both constituted and exploited in a libidinous, self-caring practice. Finally, chapter 3 decon- structs the apparent antipode of the ‘sport as play’ myth: which assump- tions in the discursive practice of sport science help to justify the ‘sport as fight’ paradigm? It appears that in centralizing the agonistic dimension of sports and the ‘will to win’, its archaic sacral roots and, as such, sacrifying power have been lost.
In concluding and opening up to future research, this work explores Agambens concept of ‘potentiality’ as a way out of the repression of modern sports current paradigmatic ontology. A new ‘form-of-sport’ will only come from activating its impotentiality.
Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 2022
In this paper, I argue that the central ontological presupposition in the philosophy of sport is ... more In this paper, I argue that the central ontological presupposition in the philosophy of sport is the ‘sport-as-play’ paradigm. In recon- structing its archaeological origins, a normative narrative is uncov- ered in which ‘play’ represents a creative and ‘lusory’ social practice, governed by game rules. In the philosophy of sports discourse, Homo Ludens is considered as the ideal, virtuous and innocent character, free from repressive, work-related duties or constraints. In the early works of Giorgio Agamben (1942), the conceptual pair play—ritual offers a contemporary frame of reference, rigorously different from our Homo Ludens ideal. In Agamben’s later works, the provocative Homo Sacer concept can hardly be more opposite to the utopian Homo Ludens paradigm. As Agamben states, political power in late modernity is based on a so-called ‘state-of-exception’, in which ‘bare life’ (as expressed in Homo Sacer) at first is excluded from society, but then again reincluded as an exception, in order to realize law and order. In this paper, I introduce philosophical archaeology as a promising new method in the philosophy of sport, debunking our prevailing Homo Ludens discourse. I argue that modern sports in our times—inadvertently—more and more seem to function as a ‘state-of-exception’, strengthening bio- political power.
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Papers by Sandra Meeuwsen
Professor of Philosophy at West Liberty University, introduces a new realist
approach to conceptualize sport. This is the review of Harper's book; it not only summarizes the main thesis, but also critically positions this core thesis in the standing tradition of the philosophy of sport and sport ethics.
The first reason why such a process of ‘ungrounding’ is presumed necessary, is the growth of excessive abuses in modern sports, such as violence, sexual assaults, the use of doping and corruption. The second argument to rethink modern sports follows from its progressive instru- mentalization in different societal areas, such as education, health care, inclusion politics and crime prevention. Which conceptions and thoughts underlie the justification of modern sports as a healthy, transformative field? Which assumptions are structurally validated and which elements are ‘banned’ and excluded?
Chapter 1 contains the archeological analyses of the scientifically accepted ‘sport as play’ paradigm. It shows that a selective interpre- tation of both Huizinga’s Homo Ludens, as French phenomenology and Suits’ utopian concept of sport, merely validate the liberating, innocent aspects of sport as lusory ‘game-playing’. Chapter 2 follows the influence of psychoanalyses in the popular, yet shameful narrative of ‘sport as sexuality’. It points out that modern sports seems to accept its contri- bution to biopolitics in promising a continuous fulfillment of bodily desires. In modern sports, the ‘use’ of bodies is both constituted and exploited in a libidinous, self-caring practice. Finally, chapter 3 decon- structs the apparent antipode of the ‘sport as play’ myth: which assump- tions in the discursive practice of sport science help to justify the ‘sport as fight’ paradigm? It appears that in centralizing the agonistic dimension of sports and the ‘will to win’, its archaic sacral roots and, as such, sacrifying power have been lost.
In concluding and opening up to future research, this work explores Agambens concept of ‘potentiality’ as a way out of the repression of modern sports current paradigmatic ontology. A new ‘form-of-sport’ will only come from activating its impotentiality.
Professor of Philosophy at West Liberty University, introduces a new realist
approach to conceptualize sport. This is the review of Harper's book; it not only summarizes the main thesis, but also critically positions this core thesis in the standing tradition of the philosophy of sport and sport ethics.
The first reason why such a process of ‘ungrounding’ is presumed necessary, is the growth of excessive abuses in modern sports, such as violence, sexual assaults, the use of doping and corruption. The second argument to rethink modern sports follows from its progressive instru- mentalization in different societal areas, such as education, health care, inclusion politics and crime prevention. Which conceptions and thoughts underlie the justification of modern sports as a healthy, transformative field? Which assumptions are structurally validated and which elements are ‘banned’ and excluded?
Chapter 1 contains the archeological analyses of the scientifically accepted ‘sport as play’ paradigm. It shows that a selective interpre- tation of both Huizinga’s Homo Ludens, as French phenomenology and Suits’ utopian concept of sport, merely validate the liberating, innocent aspects of sport as lusory ‘game-playing’. Chapter 2 follows the influence of psychoanalyses in the popular, yet shameful narrative of ‘sport as sexuality’. It points out that modern sports seems to accept its contri- bution to biopolitics in promising a continuous fulfillment of bodily desires. In modern sports, the ‘use’ of bodies is both constituted and exploited in a libidinous, self-caring practice. Finally, chapter 3 decon- structs the apparent antipode of the ‘sport as play’ myth: which assump- tions in the discursive practice of sport science help to justify the ‘sport as fight’ paradigm? It appears that in centralizing the agonistic dimension of sports and the ‘will to win’, its archaic sacral roots and, as such, sacrifying power have been lost.
In concluding and opening up to future research, this work explores Agambens concept of ‘potentiality’ as a way out of the repression of modern sports current paradigmatic ontology. A new ‘form-of-sport’ will only come from activating its impotentiality.