The Philosophy of Football by Steffen BorgeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The book engages with interesting and important philosophical questions about sport. Borge uses football (soccer) as the stand-in and best exemplar of sport, but much of what he discusses is relevant more broadly. Borge chews deeply into the arguments and brings to bear philosophical discussion beyond sport: from epistemology, theories of social kinds, aesthetics and much more. He brings in real-life examples and illustrations from football that both enliven the text and provide important context. Conceptually, it is a challenging and rigorous book: some amount of serious acquaintance with philosophy is expected and necessary.
There are four main chapters, each focusing on a different thematic issue. The first deals with the question of sport fictionalism. The second with sport as social kind and what that means for analyzing sport. The third is Borge’s critique of Bernard Suits’ classic argument about the nature of games (and sport). The last is a discussion of sport and aesthetics.
For the rest of my review: https://sportsethicist.com/2026/06/25...
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