| In this thesis I investigate the somewhat anomalous ethical nature of sport. Sport creates challenges for competitors to overcome just for the sake of doing so, demands winners and losers, allows that individuals enter into sporting contests voluntarily and thus tacitly agree to constitutive and regulative rules, and sport allows for certain types of violence not morally or legally permitted elsewhere. This thesis will examine the ethical significance of rules in sport and what it means to cheat and to act unethically in sport. It will provide an analysis of the unique role of violence in sport and how it differs from violence in the non-sporting arena, in part by examining such terms as "intent" and "consent."; After reviewing a number of violent incidents in sport, I will review theories of punishment and examine how they apply to the punishment of athletes whose actions on the playing field are morally and legally reprehensible. Finally, after I establish which acts ought to be punishable by criminal law, I will address arguments against this view---many of which are championed by those in the sporting community---and suggest criteria for punishing such acts in sport. |
