Studies the social science of moral inquiry as an attempt to develop a psychology and sociology that would explain the complex in terms of the simple as the new physics was doing in the natural realm.

In a wide-ranging study of unusual interest, Paul Weiss, Sterling Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, applies the principles and methods of philosophy to athletics. Every culture, he notes, has games of some kind; few activities seem to interest both children and young men as much as sports do; and few attract so many spectators, rich and poor. Yet none of the great philosophers, claiming to take all knowledge and being as their province, have made more than a passing reference (...) to sport, in part, Professor Weiss suggests, because they thought that what pleased the vulgar was not worth sustained study by the leisured. This seminal book breaks new ground and explores new paths: psychological and sociological forms of human behavior exhibited in games; the physiology of athletics, and the efforts of training and conditioning; and the motivation of athletics—the rhythm and aims of contests and games, and the meaning of team play. More importantly, however, Professor Weiss’s unique contributions lie in his discussions of the distinct contributions that sport makes to civilization. Professor Weiss discusses at length such topics as the Olympic Games and men and women as amateur and pro­fessional athletes—and their sacrifices, defeats, and humilia­tions. And he delineates the stages the athlete must go through in his progress toward self-completion. (shrink)

Examines the theories of Socrates, Kant, Dewey, Piaget, and others to explore the implications of Socrates' question "what is a virtuous man, and what is a virtuous school and society which educates virtuous men.".

When business, government, and other professions fail to meet their responsibilities, it is most often not from an inadequacy of tools, techniques, and theory but from an absence of vision and a failure of leadership that saps all sense of individual or organizational purpose and responsibility. To address this concern, management education must be more than the transfer of skills. It should be a moral endeavor, a passing-on from one generation to the next of a kind of wisdom about responsible (...) moral commitment in complex contexts. Faculty at professional schools have an opportunity and a responsibility to help students connect their capacity for high achievement to a sense of purpose and a set of principles. This book is an explanation of how one business school is trying to place leadership, ethics, and corporate responsibility at the center of its mission. It is a call to rebalance the educational trilogy of values, knowledge, and skills. Can Ethics Be Taught? traces the evolution, strategy, and implementation of the pathbreaking Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Responsibility program at the Harvard Business School. It describes in detail the origins of the initiative for this program, the sophisticated research that went into the approach, timing, and appropriate interventions for working with students and faculty, as well as the design of the program strategy itself. The accomplishments of this program have been substantial; and the lessons drawn from the experience of the Harvard Business School can prove instructive to other professional schools-in such fields as management, public administration, and law-and to corporate leaders as they design and implement their own programs on leadership, ethics, and responsibility. (shrink)

With the tremendous emphasis placed on making money and producing championship teams, the "ideal sports contest" is often compromised. Athletes are caught in a paradox between Academia's "Ideal" intentions and the actual "Perceived Real" program. Because of the athletes "coddled" environment, they are often unable to make morally reasoned choices and decisions, based in impartial, reflective, and consistent thinking. The major reasons the former problems surface and plague intercollegiate sport is due to poor or nonexistent critical thinking. ;The problem is (...) further compounded because few trained sport philosophers are passionately concerned with the teaching or researching of applied philosophy to a profession that is in desperate need. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to: show that philosophy is living and vibrant, bridge the gap between theory and applied, and demonstrate what could be if philosophical theory is applied in intercollegiate athletics. ;Specifically, the purpose of this philosophic and experimental study was: to speculate why "doing" philosophy is the most important study imperative to the survival of physical education and sport and examine the effects of an experimental applied normative ethics intervention program on the moral reasoning and moral development of college-aged student athletes. ;Student athletes enrolled in the course scored significantly higher from pre to posttests using the Hahm-Beller Values Choice Inventory on total deontic, honesty, responsibility, and justice scores compared to student athlete controls. Gender differences were also detected in that females used higher deontological reasoning compared to males. Student athlete controls scored significantly lower from pre to posttests on the value of justice. Relative to the DIT, student athletes enrolled in the course scored significantly higher from pre to posttests compared to student athlete controls. ;Support exists that an intensive eighteen week moral reasoning in sport course teaches student athletes to better understand what they believe and how to act on those beliefs. Because normative deontological theory supports the tenets of moral reasoning, perhaps immoral actions and ethical abuses will dramatically decrease in intercollegiate programs. (shrink)