Category Archives: podcast

November 20, 2014 · 9:00 am

The Sports Ethics Show: The Value of Play

This episode of The Sports Ethicist Show is the audio version of my talk “The Value of Play”. Recorded at The Atlas Summit on June 22, 2014, the full video (including a Q&A period) is available at http://www.atlassociety.org/as/value-play and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=texwMP6W9U.

The following is the description from The Atlas Society website:

Work and career are central values in Objectivism. Play doesn’t get a lot of focus in Ayn Rand’s fiction or in Objectivist philosophy. Play, though, offers many positive benefits and is a ubiquitous feature of human civilizations.

In this video, author Shawn Klein presents an Objectivist conception of the value of play by way of answering the following questions. What role is there for play in an Objectivist life? Can play be a part of one’s central purpose? What is the relationship between the virtues (such as productivity and rationality) and play?

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Filed under Philosophy, play, podcast

October 23, 2014 · 9:29 am

The Sports Ethics Show: Animal Sports

In this episode of The Sports Ethics Show, Joan Forry and I discuss the issue of Animal Sports. Are competitions involving non-human animals, like horse racing, dog agility, and so on, sports? If so, under what conditions are animal sports morally justifiable? We also discuss activities like bull-fighting, dog fighting, and cockfighting.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: iTunes Subscribe

Related Links

On Chicken training: Bird Brain Ep 1 and Chicken Camp

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Filed under animals, Horse racing, podcast

October 9, 2014 · 4:56 pm

Sports Ethics Show: The Value of Playoffs and Championships

New Sports Ethics Show Episode
Baseball playoffs are in full swing with both American and National League Championship Series opening this weekend. For baseball fans, this is one of the most exciting parts of the baseball season. But are we getting something wrong? Is there something wrong with having playoffs decide champions? Are there better ways of determining champions and organizing sport competitions? Dr. Aaron Harper of West Liberty University discusses these questions and related issues with Shawn E. Klein.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: iTunes Subscribe

Related Links

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Filed under baseball, Football, NFL, playoffs, podcast, soccer

September 27, 2014 · 3:08 pm

Sports Ethics Show: Athletes as Role Models

In this episode of The Sports Ethics Show, Mike Perry and Shawn Klein discuss the old debate about athletes as role models. Do athletes have special responsibilities and obligations? Should they craft themselves into good role models or is that just something extra? The conversation ranges into celebrity in general, the real effect athletes have on children, and the compartmentalization of fandom and admiration.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes: iTunes Subscribe

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Filed under athletes, Fandom, podcast

September 27, 2014 · 2:59 pm

The Sports Ethics Show Announcement

The Sports Ethicist Show is relauching as “The Sports Ethics Show”

What’s the same?

The content will remain the same. Shawn E. Klein, Ph.D. will still host show and discuss the ethical and philosophical issues in sport with experts in and out of academia.

What’s different?

Most of the changes are on the backend. In order to grow and develop the show, it will strictly be a podcast. It will no longer be broadcast on Rockford College Radio.

If you current subscribe through iTunes, you will need to subscribe to this new show.

The old shows will all still be available.

Sample of Upcoming Shows:

Mike Perry on Athletes as Role Models
Aaron Harper on the pros and cons of playoffs
Joan Grassbaugh Forry on the ethics of animal sports
Joey Gawrysiak on Sports and video games

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Filed under podcast, Site Announcements, Sports Ethics

April 28, 2014 · 9:36 pm

The Sports Ethicist Show: Sports Studies Symposium 2014

A new episode of The Sports Ethicist Show is available!

The 3rd annual Sports Studies Symposium was held April 25, 2014. In this episode, the symposium participants discuss the ideas raised by the papers given at the symposium. In the first part of the episode, Mike Perry and Shawn E. Klein talk with Sean Beckmann and Kevin Schieman about the 10,000 hour rule and what distinguishes sport from other kinds of physical games. In the second part, Shawn E. Klein, Zachary Draves, Huston Ladner, and Carl Robinson discuss the relationship between sport and society, cyborgs, and the value of spectatorship.

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Filed under Conferences, Fitness, games, NASCAR, Philosophy, play, podcast, RadioShow, Sports Ethics, Sports Studies, wrestling

April 16, 2014 · 10:40 am

The Sports Ethicist Show: Boston Breakdown with Joe

A new episode of The Sports Ethicist Show is available!

Joe Danker and Shawn Klein discuss things Boston sports in this episode of The Sports Ethicist. What defines a successful season? How important is it for the Bruins to get to and win the Stanley Cup this year? Are the Red Sox in a grace period after winning the World Series? Is it wrong for the Celtics to be tanking their season?

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Filed under baseball, basketball, Boston, Football, Hockey, podcast, RadioShow, soccer

March 31, 2014 · 8:50 am

The Sports Ethicist Show: The Paradox of Fandom

The next episode of The Sports Ethicist Show airs Monday, March 31, 2014 at 6 pm CT on Rockford College Radio.

In this episode of The Sports Ethicist Show, we focus on the value of being a sports fan. In her paper, “Being a Sports Fan: Paradox and Intrinsic Value,” Prof. Gwen Bradford (Rice University) defends a view of the value of being a sports fan based on the idea that it is a good thing for fans to value the good of their team winning. This, however, seems to lead to a paradox because fans do not value the same good when their team’s opponents win. Prof. Bradford and Shawn Klein discuss the value of being a fan, this paradox, and other issues arising in fandom.

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Filed under Fandom, IAPS, podcast, RadioShow

March 3, 2014 · 9:00 am

The Sports Ethicist Show: Rule Changes in Sport

The next episode of The Sports Ethicist Show airs Monday, March 3, 2014 at 6 pm CT on Rockford College Radio.

Rules are an essential part of sport. They define it, they govern it. But what about changing the rules? Three recent rule changes have gained national attention recently: expanded MLB replay, limiting home plate collisions in MLB, and penalizing the use of the ‘N’ word in the NFL. Shawn Klein and frequent guest, Mike Perry, discuss these rule changes and whether they are good ideas or not.

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Filed under baseball, Football, NFL, Officiating, podcast, RadioShow

February 17, 2014 · 9:00 am

The Sports Ethicist Show: Santayana on the Value of Sport

Apologies! Rockford College Radio is replaying Psychology of Mental Toughness show. You can still get the podcast for the Santayana show here right now: https://blubrry.com/sports_ethics_show/2315558/the-sports-ethicist-santayana-on-the-value-of-sport/

The Sports Ethicist Show airs this Monday at 6 pm CDT on Rockford College Radio.

George Santayana is one of the great American Philosophers and his essay “Philosophy on the Bleachers” he argues for the value of athletics for both participants and spectators. In this episode of The Sports Ethicist Show, Shawn Klein and Matt Flamm discuss Santayana’s essay and his ideas. Profs. Klein and Flamm cover a wide range of themes from the connection between athlete and spectator to role of the martial virtues in human life to the effect of industrial revolution on human existence.

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