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Transhuman Athletes and Pathological Perfectionism: Recognising Limits in Sports and Human Nature

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Athletic Enhancement, Human Nature and Ethics

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 52))

Abstract

In recent discussions in sports and bioethics there it has been suggested that sports may become a site where the modification of human nature itself might be played out. In this essay I explore the desirability of the idea that there might be athletes who could transcend humanity and thus transform sports. I argue that such a desire is a failure to consider the goodness of human and athletic vulnerability. I argue against the idea of the transhuman athlete, and reject it as a form of pathological perfectionism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While the distinction goes back to Kant, the modern locus is usually thought to be John Searle’s work in the philosophy of language where the distinction is developed. It should be noted, however, that the constitutive-regulative distinction was explored thoroughly before Searle’s work in an essay by Geoffrey Midgley (1959) in a paper given to the Aristotelian Society in the UK.

  2. 2.

    This memorable phrase was first coined by Reddiford (1981).

  3. 3.

    See Breivik (2010) for an application of Hurka’s perfectionist thesis to sports.

  4. 4.

    While I will not expand upon it here, it seems that this problem is particularly apt for those sports which measure relative performances, especially those where there is a theoretically maximal/minimal achievable limit as inter alia the case with golf or darts or snooker. More might be said of the structure of these games and the role that luck can play in them, but I shall not attempt it here.

  5. 5.

    I assume here that the point of such transformation is a competitive advantage: after all, why go to the bother of radical transformations if they are available to all?

  6. 6.

    Preface by “See McNamee and Edwards (2006)”.

  7. 7.

    See Metaphysics Book 5, chapter 4 and Book 7, chapter 4 (Aristotle (1953); Holm and McNamee (2011)).

  8. 8.

    Not immediately, it must be noted: he enjoys several years of mortal pleasures before making his mind up.

  9. 9.

    It will be clear to readers that I have not taken the attractions of the human transcendence of humanity with an honest equanimity: mea culpa. For discussion that is more balanced and more nuanced in relation to Nussbaum see Kerr (1997: 1–22).

  10. 10.

    I say this, mindful of the fact that the South African rugby player, Brian Habana, has already performed in a race with a cheetah. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_iAQXyDJns. Last accessed 5.3.12.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Humanities and Law in Healthcare, College of Human and HealthSciences, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

    Michael J. McNamee

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  1. Michael J. McNamee
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Correspondence to Michael J. McNamee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven University, Leuven, Belgium

    Jan Tolleneer

  2. Faculty of arts and Philosophy Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Sigrid Sterckx

  3. Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Bioethics Institute Ghent Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Pieter Bonte

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McNamee, M.J. (2013). Transhuman Athletes and Pathological Perfectionism: Recognising Limits in Sports and Human Nature. In: Tolleneer, J., Sterckx, S., Bonte, P. (eds) Athletic Enhancement, Human Nature and Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 52. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5101-9_10

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