Michael Novak’s alternate route: political realism in The Joy of Sports

Abstract

This work seeks to honor Michael Novak’s contribution to sport ethics by returning to his seminal work, The Joy of Sports. Novak runs an alternate route in developing his ethic, drawing largely on the school of political realism, particularly the work of Reinhold Niebuhr. In so doing, he offers a distinctive lens through which to approach to the myriad ethical issues in sport, including those related to competition, violence, and engagement in foul play. The essay outlines four core dimensions of realism within Novak’s larger corpus in order to elucidate their unfolding within The Joy of Sports. It also contributes to an understanding of how political realism might be appropriated for sport ethics.

Keywords:

• Michael Novak
• sport ethics
• realism
• violence
• competition

Acknowledgment

I am grateful to Iwan Russell-Jones, my peers at Regent College, and my colleagues at SCS – Shehnaz Hozaima Cavey in particular – for their feedback and encouragement throughout this endeavor. I would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers.

Notes

1. For instance, see Novak’s ‘Needing Niebuhr Again’ (1972).

2. Here Novak quotes from Niebuhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society: ‘This distinction justifies and necessitates political policies which a purely individualist ethic must always find embarrassing’ (xi).

3. Against charges of relativism, natural law understands the good in accordance with human nature itself. Novak (1968, 306) claims that ‘the tendency in our own nature is toward the fullest possible love’ and that ‘love is the goal of the entire human project’.

4. Notably, Novak does not place these conclusions in opposition to seeing one’s opponent as a friend.

5. The inclusion of ‘brushbacks’ is indebted to Charlie Ruud.