•  18
    This clear and thorough introduction provides students with the skills necessary to understand the main thinkers, texts and arguments of political philosophy and thought. Each chapter comprises a brief overview of a major political thinker, followed by an introduction to one or more of their most influential works and an introduction to key secondary readings. Key features include: * exercises * reading notes * guides for further reading The book introduces and assesses: Machiavelli's _Prince_; …Read more
  •  118
    This textbook reflects the buoyant state of contemporary political philosophy, and the development of the subject in the past two decades. It includes seminal papers on fundamental philosophical issues such as: the nature of social explanation distributive justice liberalism and communitarianism citizenship and multiculturalism nationalism democracy criminal justice. A range of views is represented, demonstrating the richness of the philosophical contribution to some of the most contested areas …Read more
  • This clear and thorough introduction provides students with the skills necessary to understand the main thinkers, texts and arguments of political philosophy and thought. Each chapter comprises a brief overview of a major political thinker, followed by an introduction to one or more of their most influential works and an introduction to key secondary readings. Key features include: * exercises * reading notes * guides for further reading The book introduces and assesses: Machiavelli's _Prince_; …Read more
  •  14
    Sport and Moral Conflict
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 50 (1): 148-153. 2023.
    Bill Morgan has written a terrific book, the culmination of his career long engagement in the philosophy of sport and a work which is immediately a required read – one might say a required grapple...
  •  62
    Why ‘Meaningful Competition’ is not fair competition
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 50 (1): 1-17. 2023.
    In this paper I discuss a new conception that has arrived relatively recently on the scene, in the context of the debate over the inclusion of transwomen (hereafter TW) in female sport. That conception is ‘Meaningful Competition’ (hereafter MC) – a term used by some of those who advocate for the inclusion of TW in female sport if and only if they reduce their testosterone levels. I will argue that MC is not fair. I understand MC as a substitute concept, as an attempt to substitute for the perfec…Read more
  •  108
    When Ideology Trumps Science: A response to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s Review on Transwomen Athletes in the Female Category
    with Miroslav Imbrisevic, Cathy Devine, Leslie A. Howe, Emma Hilton, and Tommy Lundberg
    Idrottsforum - Nordic Sports Science Forum 11 1-18. 2022.
    The recently published ‘Scientific Review’ by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport about transwomen’s participation in female sport doesn’t deserve its name; it is wholly unscientific. This publication follows a familiar pattern. The body is not important anymore when it comes to categorisation and eligibility in sport; instead, it’s all about a psychological phenomenon: gender identity. This side-lining of the body (which makes the side-lining of female athletes and the inclusion of male-bor…Read more
  •  6
    First published in 1999, this volume from Dr. Jonathan E. Pike is original and provocative and integrates sources from the history of ideas, analytical philosophy, and contemporary social theory. Pike has produced an overall account of Marx which focuses on the concept of human potential and clearly explains its ontological basis. Anyone interested in Marx studies will be indebted to this incisive discussion of the philosophical foundations of Marx's work.
  •  16
    Sport, games, and the fluidity of agency
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 48 (3): 392-402. 2021.
    Thi Nguyen has given us a cracker of a book in Games: Agency as Art, one that sports philosophers amongst others will learn from for many years. One fascinating (but I will argue, pro...
  •  133
    Safety, fairness, and inclusion: transgender athletes and the essence of Rugby
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 48 (2): 155-168. 2021.
    In this paper, I link philosophical discussion of policies for trans inclusion or exclusion, to a method of policy making. I address the relationship between concerns about safety, fairness, and inclusion in policy making about the inclusion of transwomen athletes into women’s sport. I argue for an approach based on lexical priority rather than simple ‘balancing’, considering the different values in a specific order. I present justifying reasons for this approach and this lexical order, based on…Read more
  •  16
    Political Philosophy a–Z
    Edinburgh University Press. 2007.
    Both topical and historical, this book guides the reader through the intricacies of political theory, enabling them to trace their way through a debate, fixing historical and theoretical points of reference along the way.
  •  838
    Norman Geras argues for the incorporation of elements from the just war tradition into the ethics of social change. But this does not go far enough. In this paper I argue for a prefigurative constraint: that action intended to bring about social transformation ought to prefigure that transformation, and bear those properties of the future state of affairs that make the future state of affairs morally valuable. I defend the idea of a prefigurative constraint against some objections and introduce …Read more
  •  26
    Action theory and the value of sport
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 46 (1): 14-29. 2019.
    ABSTRACTI present a corrective to the formalist and conventionalist down-playing of physical actions in the understanding of the value of sport. I give a necessarily brief account of the Causal Theory of Action and its implications for the normativity of actions. I show that the CTA has limitations, particularly in the case of failed or incomplete actions, and I show that failed or incomplete actions are constitutive of sport. This allows me to open up the space for another model, drawn from Ari…Read more
  •  41
    Armstrong was a Cheat: A Reply to Eric Moore
    Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 14 (2): 247-263. 2019.
    In this paper, we reply to Eric Moore’s argument that Lance Armstrong did not cheat, at least according to one, standard account of cheating. If that is the case, we argue, so much the worse for th...
  •  42
    Therapeutic use exemptions and the doctrine of double effect
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 45 (1): 68-82. 2018.
    Without taking a position on the overall justification of anti-doping regulations, I analyse the possible justification of Therapeutic Use Exemptions from such rules. TUEs are a creative way to prevent the unfair exclusion of athletes with a chronic condition, and they have the potential to be the least bad option. But they cannot be competitively neutral. Their justification must rest, instead, on the relevance of intentions to permissibility. I illustrate this by means of a set of thought expe…Read more
  •  99
    First published in 1999, this volume from Dr. Jonathan E. Pike is original and provocative and integrates sources from the history of ideas, analytical philosophy, and contemporary social theory. Pike has produced an overall account of Marx which focuses on the concept of human potential and clearly explains its ontological basis. Anyone interested in Marx studies will be indebted to this incisive discussion of the philosophical foundations of Marx's work.
  •  172
    Aristotle and Marx: Egalitarianism, Civic Friendship and Rights
    Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research 12. 2001.
  •  32
    Marx's debt to Aristotle has been noted, but inadequately. Usually commentators focus on the parallels between discrete ethical theories of both writers. However, for Marx, ethics is not a discrete field, but is founded on a conception of social ontology. This thesis links the two by showing that, precisely because of its Aristotelian roots, Marx's political economy of bourgeois society demands an ethical view arising from alienated labour. Marx conceives of bourgeois society as an organic whole…Read more