Sport as a Thick Cluster Concept

The dominant view in the philosophy of sport maintains that sports constitute a true subset of games—in particular, that sports are competitive games that involve a physical component, such as physical exertion or the exercise of gross motor skills. This chapter argues that the dominant view is mistaken and proposes in its stead an account of sport as a thick cluster concept. Sport is a thick concept because it requires the application of what this chapter terms “warranted seriousness.” And it is a cluster concept because such features as game-ness (or contrivance), physicality, and competitiveness bear constitutively on whether an activity is a sport, but none of these factors is individually necessary. The chapter concludes by sketching possible implications of the thick cluster account of sport for normative questions regarding the virtue of sportsmanship and the proper interpretation of sport rules.