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Philosophy of Sports Medicine

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Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on the philosophy of Sports Medicine, that is, the practice of medicine in the context of sport. The chapter begins by examining ways in which a distinction in kind can be claimed between Sports Medicine and medicine per se. It does this by focussing first on the goals of medicine. This strategy proves to be indecisive, and it is concluded that a difference in degree only, rather than in kind, can be claimed for Sports Medicine. However, when the focus is directed to the normative aspects of medicine per se, in comparison with Sports Medicine, important differences can be identified. These differences concern, especially, the way in which normative concepts central to medicine per se are operationalized in Sports Medicine. It is shown how norms regarding privacy, confidentiality, autonomy, and paternalism all apply in significantly different ways in the sporting context. Parallel differences are also identified in relation to the therapy/enhancement distinction. The problem of balancing current sporting goals against long-term health is also discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Silvia Camporesi

  2. College of Engineering, Swansea University, Bay Campus, SA1 8EN, Swansea, UK

    Mike McNamee

Authors
  1. Silvia Camporesi
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  2. Mike McNamee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mike McNamee .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Thomas Schramme

  2. Philosophy, History and Law, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom

    Steven Edwards

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Camporesi, S., McNamee, M. (2017). Philosophy of Sports Medicine. In: Schramme, T., Edwards, S. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8688-1_33

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