Papers
Feel free to download and use any of the papers that are contained here (although obviously appropriate referencing and acknowledgement would be expected). If any of the papers are unavailable then just drop me an email and I’ll send you a copy directly.
Books
Ryall, E. (2010) Critical Thinking for Sports Students. Exeter: Learning Matters.
The capacity to think critically is essential for success in sport courses in higher education. Critical Thinking for Sports Students provides all those involved in the study of sport with the tools to assess, construct, and present arguments and to analyse and evaluate material. The emphasis is on the application of critical thinking in the form of written arguments, discussion, and negotiation. Throughout, the text and examples are presented within the context of sport, helping students to more easily apply their learning to their subject area.
Published Papers
Being-on-the-bench: An Existential Analysis of the Substitute in Sport
This paper considers the role of the substitute in sport from an Existential perspective with a focus upon ‘Bad Faith’ and ‘Authenticity’.
Published in the Journal of Sport, Ethics & Philosophy. 2008. Taylor & Francis
The Language of Genetic Technology
This paper argues that the language that the media uses in discussing the topic of genetic technology affects the ethical judgments that we consequently make.
Published in Continuum. 2008. Taylor & Francis
Cricket, Politics and Moral Responsibility: Where do the boundaries lie?
This paper focuses upon the question of who should be making the moral decisions on the participation of athletes in politically sensitive sporting events.
Published in Sport, Culture & Society: Philosophical Reflections. 2007. Meyer & Meyer
Presented Papers
Being-for-others in sport: feelings of pride, shame, contempt and respect
As I have argued previously (Ryall 2008), sport seems to provide an area whereby the nature of being is intensely illuminated, for we are always aware that the meaning we ascribe to sport is arbitrarily defined and freely chosen. And yet at the same time, the nature of sport means that it is a stage on which the choices we make are wholly visible, and the emotions of pride and shame, contempt and respect (of varying degrees) are common. It is the arena whereby the struggle for dominance is acute. As such, this paper will consider whether Sartre’s notion of ‘the look’ exposes the problem of these emotions and the way we view ourselves and others in sport.
Presented at BPSA, March 2010, Cardiff University
There’s No Such Thing as a Sport Science
Following on from Peter Winch’s seminal work ‘The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy’ and Hutchinson’s, Read’s and Sharrock’s recent publication ‘There’s no Such Thing as a Social Science’ this paper attempts to argue that the notion of a sport science falls into the same category that Winch was criticising.
Presented at the BPSA conference, March 2009, Dundee, Scotland.
Sport as a Form of Development Aid
This paper questions the value and rationale behind using sport as a panacea to solve problems in developing nations and asks whether it is just another form of ‘muscular Christianity’.
Presented at EAPS, May 2008, Aarhus, Denmark and IAPS, September 2008, Tokyo, Japan.
What’s Wrong with the Idea of an Embodied Athlete?
This paper considers Ramachandran’s (1998) proposal that the embodied self is merely an illusion and what the implications would be for sport, and disability sport in particular.
Presented at IAPS, September 2007, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Defining the Human: Philosophical and Ethical Issues in a Posthuman Age.
This lecture considered the effect of technology on the concept of human. Topics covered included the implications of the Turing test, the construction of humanoids, and the idea that humans have already transgressed the ‘post-human’ boundaries.
Invited speaker for the Qualitative Research Unit, University of Exeter, May 2007, Exeter, UK
Defining the Human (II): Separating Mind and Body and Avoiding Category Mistakes.
This paper considers the role that metaphor plays in producing particular pictures of the world. It draws upon Ryle’s notion of a category-mistake to elucidate the problems arising in our language of genetic technology.
Presented at BPSA, March 2007, Leeds, UK
Defining the Human: On reaching an ethical judgment about genetic technology in sport.
This paper explores the problems associated with defining what it is to be human as it is this concept upon which many of the ethical debates surrounding the application of genetic technology to humans rest.
Presented at BPSA, May 2006, Cardiff, UK
Being-on-the-bench: Bad faith or towards authenticity?
This paper considers the role of the substitute in sport from an Existential perspective with a focus upon ‘Bad Faith’ and ‘Authenticity’.
Presented at IAPS, September 2005, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Approaching Ethics: A Wittgenstenian Method.
This paper focuses upon the Wittgensteinian notion of ‘attitude’ in order to provide an alternative method which with to approach ethical issues.
Presented at Research Student Conference, May 2005, Bedford, UK
Whereof what one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent: A Wittgensteinian perspective on genetic technology in sport.
This paper takes a Wittgensteinian stance in attempting to (re)solve the ethical issue of genetic technology in sport.
Presented at IAPS, September 2004, Texas, USA
Using Sport as a Political Instrument
This paper focuses upon the question of who should be making the moral decisions on the participation of athletes in politically sensitive sporting events.
Presented at BPSA, June 2004, Cheltenham, UK
Genetic Modification in Sport: A Wittgensteinian perspective
This paper takes a Wittgensteinian stance in attempting to (re)solve the ethical issue of genetic technology in sport.
Presented at Research Student Conference, May 2004, Bedford, UK
Are Philosophers Merely Playing Games?
This paper questions the assumption that (professional) philosophy is a useful and fruitful pursuit that shows real progress in human ontology.
Presented at IAPS, September 2003, Cheltenham, UK