Monday, January 28, 2013
Is it still Immoral if its not harmful? Lasik and Sports
Is Lasik as bad as steroids?
Lance Armstrong blood doped to gain an edge, much like Barry Bonds and Mike Mcgwire abused steroids to become the best baseball players of their time. Lasik eye surgery is the new kid on the block in terms of performance enhancement. Although it has not met nearly as much criticism as the others, sports fans still see it as an unfair advantage. One could argue the leading reasons for the banning of both steroids and doping are the serious negative effects on the body instead of the edge gained. Assume for a moment that steroid abuse and doping do not have a negative effect on the body, do you think they would still be banned? Lasik eye surgery has no long term negative effects, perhaps that is why it has not been banned. Are substances banned ed due to their negative effects or due to the advantages gained by those using them?
Even at our best, we are only out for ourselves". - Hobbs
This quote definitely explains the actions of these cheaters. Furthermore, Hobbs could also go on to argue that a strong government, in this case the Professional sports organizations are necessary to decide what is right and wrong and be the hammer that punishes the vices of the these Men.
Just my thoughts.....
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You make an interesting and compelling argument that substances are only banned when they have negative side effects. But, comparing Lasik eye surgery to steroids is like comparing apples to oranges, it is not a fair comparison. To have eye surgery it is required that you have a pre-existing problem with your vision. To take steroids there does not have to be a problem with your muscles or their function.
ReplyDeleteCorrective eye surgery's goal is to restore your eyes to the clarity and sharpness that they used to have. Steroids goal is to increase strength through muscle mass to levels that have never been reached and could not otherwise be attained.
I apologize i did not make that link clear.
ReplyDeleteUnderthouse conditions I agree with you. However when you are having lasik surgery in order to increase your vision from 20/20 to 20/10 or lower it optically comparable to muscle growth that wouldnt normally be attained.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention!
I think this one depends on the sport. Tiger Woods got Lasik but since eyesight doesn't really help in golf I don't think that its cheating there. But in baseball where eyesight is extremely important I do think it is cheating although maybe not really as wrong as using steroids.
ReplyDeleteI think things like steroids and blood doping are banned because of the unfair advantage, and not that it causes physical harm. Therefore, if lasik creates a similar unfair advantage it too should be banned, or everyone should do it and make baseball more fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteA number of good questions arise here: what is unfair? How would we define unfair? According to what moral paradigm?
ReplyDeleteIf we openly allow everyone to do something, is it ever unfair? Is it only unfair if the thing is harmful--therefore one has to hurt oneself in order to keep up with things?
Finally, is there a sort of ethical sense of fair play or purity that cannot be reduced to concepts of harm and fair competition? The moral sense philosophers argued that harm is not the final determinant of our moral senses. So perhaps the problem is really more with our inherent sense of what a real, true sport should look like.
Oh, and where did you find that quotation? It sounds a little too modern to be Hobbes to me (although I could be wrong).
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