96992 - Philosophy of Sport and Wellness

Learning outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to - recognise and analyse different philosophical approaches to well-being, wellness and health - address the main questions of the philosophy of sport, such as what is a sport and what it is not, as well as ethical issues such as honesty, human enhancement and doping, the possibility of dangerous and violent sports, gender inclusivity, and commercialisation - elaborate critically on and apply the above skills to sport and wellness management

Course contents

The aim of this philosophy course is to train students to reflect on and critically discuss some key concepts of their future career fields, sport and wellness.

These concepts can be defined in different ways both in research and in professional life, and from these differences follow different choices at the level of action, planning and evaluation.

In particular, the course focuses on 6 topics:

1. health and well-being
2. disability
3. games and sports
4. sport ethics
   
5. gender fairness and inclusion

The course is introductory and no previous knowledge of philosophy or related subjects is required. 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Readings for each topic will be posted on Virtuale after each class (2-3 articles or book chapters)

Suggested readings, if you want to know what we will be talking about:

Devine, John William and Francisco Javier Lopez Frias, "Philosophy of Sport", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/sport/>.

Murphy, Dominic, "Concepts of Disease and Health", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/health-disease/>.

Reid, H. (2012). Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

 

Teaching methods

This course participates in the University's educational innovation project

For each topic, the course is organized as follows

class 1 in presence: topic presented by the professor

class 2 online: discussion of topic by the whole group

class 3 in presence: students' questions and presentations based on readings and discussion

 

Course calendar will be published in Week 1

 

 

 

Assessment methods

Students are required to 

- present questions or contents to the group in class and

- give a short presentation to the professor on the day of the exam on one of the course topics (10 minutes, 20 slides ppt)

Grades are obtained as follows:

- presentations during class: max 10

- exam presentation: max 20

Grade of the final presentation depends on clarity, structure and proper use of references.

Teaching tools

Online: ppt and pdf files, videos, external links

In presence: presentations

 

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Lalumera