The supersuits were wrong, philosophically speaking

Nov 22, 2011

—

by

So, I’m totally out of my depth here, but this article is interesting, discussing whether the supersuits were wrong or not, philosophically speaking. The conclusion is that yes, if we value fair competition and the ability to compare results against an absolute standard over time, then the supersuits were wrong.

(11) If some technological advance undermines a valuable aspect of a sporting activity, then the use of that technology is wrong (within that sport).

(12) Inter-temporal comparisons of sporting (or, maybe, just swimming) performances are valuable.

(13) The use of performance-enhancing swimsuits, such as those used in the 2009 SWCs, undermines the inter-temporal comparison of swimming performances by making such comparisons unfair.

(1*) Therefore, the use of performance-enhancing swimsuits in the sport of swimming is wrong.

Read Philosophical Disquisitions

Image courtesy of Elke Sisco, cc by-nc-sa 2.0

Comments

One response to “The supersuits were wrong, philosophically speaking”

Threshold

November 23, 2011

All suits help (think before 2008, Thorpedo full bodysuit etc.), so going back to men only using jammers in 2010, must be wrong as well, if we value fair competition and the ability to compare results against an absolute standard over time … philosophically speaking. . . . bla bla bla. :-)

Reply