Joseph Rodgers

Prof. Brandt

Philosophy 191-02

November 10, 2017

Football and Philosophy: Going Deep

In America, The National Football League, also known as the NFL, is one of the top

attractions to customers during the fall/winter season, and especially during the holidays. For

over the last forty years, football has been known as America’s favorite game and has indeed

passed baseball in that standing. Football has adapted itself to the everyday culture of the average

American, and it is also part of our nation’s culture. The championship game for this sport, also

widely known as the Super Bowl, has naturally declared itself as an unofficial holiday for our

country. Also, during the holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, it has glided its way

into being included in our annual holiday celebrations, and would not be the same without it.

This major sport, not only in the professional league, but in college, high school, and pee wee

leagues, can generate high revenue for businesses all around the table for the people to enjoy and

spectate as the athletes put on their performance.

Given the high importance of sports and football especially in America’s culture, it gives

great material for philosophers of culture reasons to wonder. Philosophers such as Aristotle,

Stoics, and Kant are all relevant philosophers who can give us more insight on how they deal

with today’s fanatics and thinking about football. Even though these men are classified as

academic philosophers, they bring the state of philosophical expertise in a variety of ethical,

metaphysical, and epistemological issues that are provoked by football. This book was not
written solely for academic reasons, but it is to dig deeper into some of the intellectual problems

and issues that are triggered by football and its role in our culture. Michael W. Austin does a

phenomenal job of elaborating and expanding his thoughts and opinions on this topic and uses

ancient philosophers and their theories to strengthen his point of view, along with other writers.

There are four sections to this book, and they are ironically but appropriately called

“quarters.” The first section or “quarter” is title “Football Lessons for the Game of Life,” and

Raymond Angelo Belliotti digs deeper into football’s potential to lead moral virtues, like

discipline, self-restraint, and commitment to greatness. When a person who is in love with the

game of football at an early age, they have a different mindset compared to someone who is only

a spectator. Commitment and contribution are two great factors that are almost necessary for any

type of player who is looking to become a successful athlete. Attributes such as strength,

physical ability, and field strategies are only a few factors that a player needs to be a complete

player. A contributor to the writing, Daniel B. Gallagher, draws insight from Aristotle’s

philosophy of friendship into the social and interpersonal dimension of football. R. Douglas

Geivett expands his knowledge of how the players learn how to form knowledge required to

execute complex and diverse plays in football.

The second quarter titled “Playing Between the Lines,” is where most of the issues with

the sport are being addressed. Scott. F Parker details the aesthetic dimension of football and how

it is ethical. He uses Kant’s theory of aesthetics to analyze the beauty of football. Scott. A

Davison addresses the issues with the violence in football and how it can be morally wrong when

it comes to the normal culture of our society. Football, as we all know, can be a very violent

sport in the eyes of some viewers. From blindsided hits to blocking and tackling, every aspect of

the sport involves contact with another player on almost every single play of the game. A
challenge to the ban on the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) is presented by Sharon

Ryan. She argues that the standard arguments against the use of such drugs depend on the sole

fact of how the drugs are banned its failure to justify the ban itself or the negative aspects of

using the drugs independently. Performance enhancing drugs are not only banned in football but

all major sports around the country. They do not fairly develop the player, and over the last 20

years, many of the popular players we know, and love today have been caught in the act of using

them, along with losing the respect and trust of many other players, coaches, teams, and fans.

Marshall Swain and Myles Brand also give their insight on the use of performance-enhancing

drugs and how they offer a philosophical account of the moral wrongness of cheating. M.

Andrew Holowchank applies his view on the ancient Stoic ideas about the good life and the

balance between the concern for themselves and the concerns for others when it comes to the

football players.

In the third quarter titled, “Philosophical Armchair Quarterbacking,” it gives the reader

thoughtful ideas for the fan to ponder and discuss during the offseason of football, which is

during the spring and summer time. Michael W. Austin makes his case for a college football

playoff, whereas the NFL does. College football goes about a ranking system in the program,

which many hardcore college fans have a big issue with. It makes them feel that it does not give

their team a fighting chance, even if their team's record is worth talking about. They also discuss

how instant replay should allow all the plays to be reviewable and change the impact of the

game, as Joshua A. Smith discusses. The ability to completely restrict instant replay for plays

that involve “judgment calls” and “correctable calls” is unwarranted mainly because all calls

involve some type of judgment are sometimes are correctable. Daniel-Collins-Cavanaugh applies

the utilitarian moral theory, discussing how the salary cap does not make the National Football
League any fairer. Stephen Kershner defends a critique for judging how a player’s value by

comparing the team’s performance with that specific player and the team’s performance with the

backup player in the position of the starter.

Finally, in the fourth quarter titled “Metaphysical Mojo” gives fans and the reader a

deeper aspect of thinking how “the Gridiron is Holy Ground?” He applies the ideas of St.

Augustine and argues that football is “one of the lower things of life.” He explains how the

gridiron can become a holy ground when football is approached, and it means a greater end to

teaching the men of the game. He says that it is “a compelling definition of what it means to be a

man.” Ben Letson and Joseph Keim Campbell both analyze and elaborate the contemporary

truthmaking theory of the concept of momentum. They also both argue how the existence of

touchdowns depends on the beliefs, linguistic practices, and conceptual schemes of referees of

the players. They reveal how the real events in their own independent mind can influx their

decision making on the field during the game.

Football and Philosophy is a very entertaining and well-thought book edited by Michael

W. Austin. It is very thought-provoking and reflective to the football fan. Most of the ideas and

thoughts presented throughout the book are of broad interest and can be understood by the

general audience. The arguments presented in the book give the readers a good taste of how the

methods and ideas of philosophy can illuminate the possibility of football as a stimulus for

philosophical reflection. As a football fan myself, this book has shown different and interesting

characteristics of my favorite sport to watch. From the philosophical point of view from the

players to the fans, it gives me the insight of how each decision, action, and the result can affect

both the player and the reader in a complex way that is not normally seen or thought of from the

beginning.