Abstract

The author describes three moral visions of the world, three different ethics. According to the aristocratic ethic - best developed in Greek philosophy - talented and less talented people exist in nature. Sport appears as an exercise, as a way to realise the virtualities already existing. According to the meritocratic vision - symbolised by the republican tradition in France and Kant’s philosophy - the degree of talent is not important, but the effort you undertake to realise norms which are from the exterior set. People are motivated to be a part of the elite by their work, their merit. Sport is considered more as work than as exercise. There is neither a hierarchy of talented or not talented nor a hierarchy of efforts with the third vision, the ethic of authenticity. Since the late sixties, this vision, appearing in the late sixties, rejects every form of hierarchigation. Instead of adapting exterior norms, each individual develops his /her own norm. The expression of the individual is essential. Sport appears as a way to develop the own personality, to enjoy oneself. So, since the seventies, new forms of sport have turned up, which do not lead to competition, but to good health, like jogging or body-building. The author sees Pierre de Coubertin’s genius in understanding the tensions between the aristocratic world, the meritocratic world coming into existence and also the „all sports for all“, including massification and democratisation. He situates sport at the crucial point of these three ethics. The author classifies sport as a paradigm for human culture. Moreover, he proclaims sport as the only element in occidental societies in which we can see the reconstitution of aristocracy on a strictly democratic base. This is what causes its fascination. Today, these three ethics are on the way to reconciliation: aristocratic and meritocratic elements combined with the pursuit of pleasure and prosperity. Verf.-Referat