Emily Ryall

University of Gloucestershire · School of Education and Applied Sciences

Book of Abstracts of the 50th International Association for the Philosophy of Sport Annual Conference held in Split from 19th to 22nd September 2023

Background: ‘Gender dysphoria’ is commonly used to describe feelings of psychological discomfort, unease, anxiety, or distress in trans individuals. Whilst the past decade has shown a significant rise in research on the experiences of trans individuals in society, the amount of literature dedicated to the experiences of trans men has been much more...

By adopting Habermas' communicative theory, this paper categorizes players' actions into four elements. The strategic action involves players manipulating each other within the game's framework; normative action is manifested in following the rules and the underlying ethos; dramaturgical action emerges through the players' deliberate presentation o...

This is an earlier version of a paper I published with Andrew Edgar: Chapter 9 from Jeffrey P. Fry and Andrew Edgar (eds.) (2022) Philosophy, Sport, and the Pandemic. London: Routledge It considers the experience of watching sport in relation to the ideals of sports spectatorship, particularly through the lens of sport during the covid19 pandemic...

The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the use of diverse forms of online digital technology including video teleconferencing software, such as Zoom. The pandemic thereby accelerated a gradual shift to the increased integration of digital technology into working practices but also leisure activities. In physical exercise and sport, this shift included th...

There is an extensive spectrum of literature among various disciplines that deals with the phenomenon of play. From these discussions it seems clear that play is a phenomenon with more than just one dimension: as a specific type of activity, as a form or structure, as an ontologically distinctive phenomenon, as a type of experience, or as a stance...

There has been extensive debate among various disciplines about the nature and value of play. From these discussions it seems clear that play is a phenomenon with more than just one dimension: as a specific type of activity, as a form or structure, as an ontologically distinctive phenomenon, as a type of experience, or as a stance or an attitude to...

Although modern sports utilise advanced technology such as goal-line officiating, altitude chambers, biometric tracking devices and online entertainment platforms, technology in sport and games has long history: from a ball to be kicked, a hoop to be thrown, a token to move and a target at which to aim. Technology is arguably a prerequisite of spor...

The philosophy of sports is a relatively young discipline in China which we argue, can be divided into four stages of development over the past four decades. This paper attempts to map the history of this development and provide an indication of how Chinese sport philosophy has contributed to the global development of research in this area. Stage o...

The role and value of science within sport increases with ever greater professionalization and commercialization. Scientific and technological innovations are devised to increase performance, ensure greater accuracy of measurement and officiating, reduce risks of harm, enhance spectatorship and raise revenues. However, such innovations inevitably c...

The International Association for the Philosophy of Sport – IAPS, in cooperation with the Japan Society for the Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education – JSPSPE organized an international research seminar on the philosophy of sport from 17 to 20 September 2019 in Kyoto (Kyoto International Conference Center), Japan. This international scientific...

Research Question: How do legal norms and reasoning processes, in relation to selection appeals, underpin the concepts of good governance and professionalism in sport? Research Methods: This is primarily a theoretical paper that outlines the reasoning techniques and methodology of law as an academic and professional discipline in interpreting, exp...

Research Question: How do legal norms and reasoning processes, in relation to selection appeals, underpin the concepts of good governance and professionalism in sport? Research Methods: This is primarily a theoretical paper that outlines the reasoning techniques and methodology of law as an academic and professional discipline in interpreting, expl...

To date, there has been little philosophical consideration of the concept of shame in sport, yet sport seems to be an environment conducive to the experience of shame due to its public and unequivocal nature demonstrating failure and success. Whilst much of the philosophical commentary of shame in sport suggests it acts as a quasi-virtue that holds...

Research Question: How do legal norms and reasoning process, in relation to selection appeals, underpin the concepts of good governance and professionalism in sport? Research Methods: This is primarily a theoretical paper that outlines the reasoning techniques and methodology of law as an academic and professional discipline in interpreting, expla...

To date, there has been little philosophical consideration of the concept of shame in sport. Yet sport seems to be an environment which is conducive to the experience of shame due to its public and unequivocal nature demonstrating failure and success. Most of the philosophical commentary that mentions shame does so in the suggestion it acts as a qu...

The landscape of sport shows conspicuous discursive and material disparities between the responses to openly violent on-field transgressors and the responses to other kinds of transgressor, most notably drug users. The former gets off significantly lighter in terms of ideological framing and formal punishment. The latter—and drug users in particula...

This paper considers Tannsjo's claim that sport is the last bastion of sexual discrimination by segregating sport into male and female categories and asks whether it would be fairer to utilise a different means of dividing competition.

Soccer, which I shall call football, is a game that is won or lost on whether a ball is deemed to cross a line. How the goal is scored is irrelevant since the result of a goal-mouth scramble is worth the same as a skilfully executed half-volley in to the top corner. On this basis, there is no logical reason for attaching the term “the beautiful gam...

Philosophy of Sport: Key Questions provides an accessible and comprehensive guide to the philosophy of sport. Each chapter is framed by a question that explores the main issues, ideas and literature in the field ranging from questions about the nature and value of sport, the sporting body, aesthetics and ethics. Students are given the opportunity t...

Whilst there have been other historical and sociological analyses of sports films, Sport and Film provides a contemporary and systematic exploration of both the evolution of sports film and how this genre is a prime exemplar of wider cultural values. Its primary thesis is that mainstream sports films ‘play a crucial role in sustaining and affirming...

This paper considers the concept of a good game in terms of its relation to the fair testing of relevant skills and their aesthetic values. As such, it will consider what makes football ‘the beautiful game’ and what part penalty shoot-outs play, or should play, within it. It begins by outlining and refuting Kretchmar’s proposal that games which end...

The Handbook of the Study of Play brings together diverse thinkers across academic disciplines to explore the vital role of play in human development. Throughout, it tackles important questions about educational policy, literacy, fitness, the role of play in brain development, spontaneity and pleasure, well-being and happiness, fairness, and the fu...

Although at first reading Wittgenstein explicitly said little, if anything, about ethics, his approach finds a way of overcoming flawed attempts by ‘professional ethicists’ to provide normative rules to solve ethical problems. In her paper, Dr. Ryall will outline an elucidatory and therapeutic reading of Wittgenstein’s work to highlight how ethical...

This paper seeks to provide a response to Gaffney's analysis of teamwork by arguing that teamwork is morally neutral rather than a virtue in itself. This conclusion will be supported by examples which demonstrate how teamwork can develop and foster undesirable traits and practices such as resentment, contempt and the purely instrumental use of othe...

The majority of – usually moral – problems inherent in elite sport, such as whether athletes should be able to take particular drugs, wear particular clothing, or utilise particular tools, arguably stem from a conceptual one based on faulty logic and competing values. Sport is a human enterprise that represents a multitude of human compulsions, des...

Despite frequent calls by players, managers and fans, FIFA's resistance to the implementation of goal-line technology (GLT) has been well documented in national print and online media as well as FIFA's own website. In 2010, FIFA president Sepp Blatter outlined eight reasons why GLT should not be used in football. The reasons given by FIFA can be br...

This article considers the social construction of mental toughness in line with prevailing social attitudes towards success and dominance in elite sport. Critical attention is drawn to the research literature which has sought to conceptualise mental toughness and the idealistic rhetoric and metaphor with which it has done so. The concept of mental...

Recent media speculation on the applications and effects of developments in genetic technology when applied to sport have tended to elicit predominantly negative or fearful pictures of genetically modified athletes with super-human abilities, with phrases such as ‘Frankenstein athletes’, and ‘sporting Armageddon’. However, I wish to argue that such...

Being a substitute in sport appears to contradict the rationale behind being involved in that sport, especially in those sports where substitutes frequently remain unused or are brought on to the field of play for the final moments of that game. For the coach or manager, substitutes function as a way to improve the team achieving a particular end,...

The idea of an embodied athlete has been a foundational concept upon which much ethical reasoning regarding the acceptability of technology has relied. This idea that there is a clearly defined, delineable and discrete, self contained entity that is a person, is further reinforced by what appears to be phenomenological evidence: "I know where my bo...