A Study on the Conceptual Ambiguity of Cheating in Sport

Abstract

PURPOSE This study aims to show that the ground for moral condemnation for an act, including cheating, is too vague and ambiguous in sports. Further, in sports, such condemnation and moral assessment must be found in ethical conventions within sports communities. METHODS I discuss how to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable conduct in sports—what exactly is a moral action in sports, and on what basis moral condemnation or praise can be imposed on an action. These are discussed to understand the complexity and ambiguity of sports norms. Next, by examining the concept of cheating offered by prominent moral philosophers and sports philosophers, I argue that the concept of cheating does not have a useful moral compass for identifying cheating in sports. Finally, I show that the practical reasons used by sports communities to justify the normative qualification of actions in a specific way cannot be separated from the practical reasons produced by sports practices. RESULTS I argue that, since cheating in sports does not have the status or qualification of a concept, the evaluation of ethical behavior in sports should be based on the conventional norms instituted within the realm of sport as its starting point and moral basis. CONCLUSIONS Therefore, the normative evaluation of whether an action in sports has been ethically justified should be undertaken from a conventional evaluative perspective operating within the sports community rather than relying on a philosophical verification based on independent reason outside sports.

Keywords

• norms
• cheating
• concept
• ethical evaluation
• convention