Abstract

Are the recent changes in modern competitive skiing to be considered as mere modifications, and, consequently, further developments of those well-known conditions that existed before; or are they indicators of a general transformation process of conditions of action within the technological system of action "competitive sports"? The answer to this certainly very complex and ambiguous question will here be limited to a moral perspective, which could be formulated as follows: May we do everything we are able to do, and are we able to assume the responsibility for those actions we wish to do? This essay is structured into three sections: in a first step, the author will analyse from a structural perspective the technological conditions of modern high competitive sport that set the precondition for assuming responsibility. In a second step, the author will draw up the scope of free decision, which results from such a structural analysis with the imperative that moral responsibility can only exist in competitive skiing if there are true options of choice available for the respective actors. With reference to the specific conditions of action in ski sports, the author will suggest in a third step the consequences which appear to be necessary, if one does not wish to reduce responsibility within the system "ski sports" to a mere private problem of the actors involved. Einleitung (gekürzt und geändert)