Resumen de What are we cheering? Sport and the value of valuing
Against the dismissal of sport as “only a game” not worth the deep investment that so many fans make in it, sport is often defended on the grounds that it cultivates important virtues of character that are useful in a range of real-life applications (discipline, resilience, pride, teamwork, and so on). Whatever merit these claims may have, this paper calls attention to something that has not been sufficiently previously appreciated, namely, what sport reveals about the nature of value. By considering the experience of the serious fan (rather than that of the player or casual spectator), the paper argues that sport illuminates important aspects of how to value, of the point of valuing, and of the propriety of valuing. It further argues that, even more fundamentally, the experience of the serious fan helps us to appreciate the ways in which valuing is itself a value.
