Relatedly, should fans of the game be ashamed of themselves? Which ones? A public health professor has said that letting pre-teens play tackle football is “an abdication of moral responsibility for children’s welfare.”. [49] Lisa Bero, Industry Sponsorship and Research Outcome: A Cochrane Review, JAMA Internal Medicine, 173(7): 580-581 (2013). In the wake of the recent pandemic, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy said “In my opinion, if we have to bring our players back, test them. Do you see parallels between the debate as to whether to begin playing football again in the wake of the pandemic and the debate as to whether to abolish or reform football in light of the evidence on brain trauma? Are the answers different for NFL players, college players, high school players, and under-14 players? The main principle of utilitarian moral theory, the principle of utility, states that the right action is the one that produces the most overall happiness. 3352 (Dec. 2016). Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." [81] Peter Benson, Big Football: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Culture and Color of Injury in America’s Most Popular Sport, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 41(4): 307-334 (2017). Do these choices remind you of the COVID-19 pandemic when governments, in deciding whether to shut down society and later when to reopen it, had to weigh lives vs. livelihoods? Some take the view that the NFL has acted like the tobacco industry did when it was confronted with lawsuits seeking to prove to juries that smoking caused cancer. Bentham's commitment to equality was radical in another way, too. [5] Center for Disease Control, at https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/concussion_whatis.html. ", ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. [58] Daniel Engber, Concussion Lies, Slate, Dec. 21, 2015, at https://slate.com/culture/2015/12/the-truth-about-will-smiths-concussion-and-bennet-omalu.html; Kevin Lomangino, Journalists Drop the Ball on Big Concussion/CTE Story, HEALTHNEWSREVIEW.ORG, Jan. 19, 2018, at https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2018/01/sports-desks-drop-the-ball-on-big-concussion-story/; [59] Matt Ventresca, The Curious Case of CTE: Mediating Materialities of Traumatic Brain Injury, Communication & Sport, 7(2): 135-156 (2019). [25] Jacqueline Howard, These High School Sports Have the Highest Concussion Rates, CNN, Oct. 15, 2019, at https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/health/concussion-high-school-sports-study/index.html. It dictates the ethical decisions made by an individual must behold his point of view and interests to promote the happiness of others, making the theory very practical in real life. The axioms of the moral theory that seeks to maximize happiness 1. Utilitarianism is a theory of morality, which advocates actions that foster happiness and opposes actions that cause unhappiness. Russell, The Value of Dangerous Sport, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 32: 1-19 (2005). Utilitarianism says that we should make helping others a very significant part of our lives. But few would consider it an acceptable course of action, let alone the most ethical one. [62] Matt Ventresca, The Curious Case of CTE: Mediating Materialities of Traumatic Brain Injury, Communication & Sport, 7(2): 135-156 (2019). [4] Center for Disease Control, at https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html. In deciding whether it is ethical for you to buy amber from Myanmar, do you need to guard against the self-serving bias unduly affecting your decision? That can seem quite sensible. What these theories have in common are four defining characteristics: (i) consequentialism, (ii) welfarism, (iii) impartiality, and (iv) additive aggregationism. Utilitarianism is a demanding ethical theory that may require us to substantially change how we act. [32] Matt Ventresca & Mary G. McDonald, Forces of Impact: Critically Examining Sport’s “Concussion Crisis,” in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Ventresca & McDonald, eds., 2019). Another study found that greater RHI exposure correlated with higher levels of plasma t-tau (a biomarker for CTE) in symptomatic former NFL players as compared to the study’s control group. Which approach do you find more persuasive, and why? Utilitarianism gets its name from the term "utility," which in this context does not mean "useful" but, rather, means pleasure or happiness. 1.1. They’re all in good shape. Bry’s answer is that it’s not the players who are immoral, it is the fans who are comparable to Romans sitting in the Colosseum watching lions devour Christians. A political issue? [37] Everett J. Lehman et al., Suicide Mortality Among Retired National Football League Players Who Played 5 or More Seasons, American Journal of Sports Medicine, 44(10): 2486-2491 (2016). His theory of Utilitarianism argues that morally correct actions are those that result in the greatest happiness for all affected. The principle of individualism in utilitarianism holds that every individual, as it is human nature, pursues happiness, thus, will engage in actions that maximize utility. Copyright © 2021 Ethics Unwrapped - McCombs School of Business – The University of Texas at Austin, 8 short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/08/amber-fossil-supply-chain-has-dark-human-cost/594601/, https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(19)31097-8.pdf, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/fossil-bird-in-amber-has-unusually-long-toes/, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232280-600-blood-amber-the-exquisite-trove-of-fossils-fuelling-war-in-myanmar/, https://dc.law.utah.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=ulr, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/fossils-burmese-amber-offer-exquisite-view-dinosaur-times-and-ethical-minefield, https://consult-myanmar.com/2018/07/11/myanmars-new-gold-mine-is-dinosaur-amber/, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216311939?via%3Dihub, https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/mining/dodging-rumour-and-insurgency-the-hunt-for-burmese-amber-goes-to-the-heart-of-myanmars-turbulent-north, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232283-300-it-is-time-to-bring-global-attention-to-the-trade-in-burmese-amber/, https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html, https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/concussion_whatis.html, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921, https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191124/student-athletes-still-reluctant-to-report-concussions-nationwide-childrens-study-finds, https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/health/concussion-high-school-sports-study/index.html, https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/11/what-parents-need-to-know-about-football-and-head-injuries.html, https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/24/3/180.full, https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27372974/did-helmet-rule-actually-work-2018-how-change-2019, https://www.sportscasting.com/nfl-concussion-protocol-explained-how-does-it-work/, https://slate.com/culture/2015/12/the-truth-about-will-smiths-concussion-and-bennet-omalu.html, https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2018/01/sports-desks-drop-the-ball-on-big-concussion-story/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle, https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/07/oklahoma-states-mike-gundy-says-his-team-needs-play-benefit-state-economy/. Utilitarianism, by John Stuart Mill, is an essay written to provide support for the value of utilitarianism as a moral theory, and to respond to misconceptions about it. They have a duty to preserve the players’ health, but simultaneously feel pressure to get players back out on the field so the team can win. Dr. Omalu identified abnormal clumps of the protein tau in Webster’s brain, which he believed to be evidence of CTE. The main principle of utilitarian moral theory, the principle of utility, states that the right action is the one that produces the most overall happiness.John Stuart Mill adapted Jeremy Bentham’s theory, and stated that happiness is pleasure and the absence of pain. Many recent studies point to how dangerous football is to players’ long-term brain health. Similarly, saving two lives is better than saving one life. No, it’s not crazy because we need to continue and budget and run money through the state of Oklahoma.”. 1. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. Is it always a consideration that buyers should take into account? A common description of utilitarianism is seeking ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ this is paraphrased from Jeremy Bentham, who developed Act Utilitarianism. In general, whatever is being evaluated, we ought to choose the one that wil… Ultimately, the goal of behavior is to achieve well-being or happiness. Pleasure and happiness, though, are unique in being valued purely for their own sake. [35]  Other studies have involved skewed samples, including one where all the NFL players’ brains had been donated because of mental declines that the donors had suffered before their deaths.[36]. (Another goal-directed theory is egoism, which promotes the greatest good for the self alone.) [7], If only one thing is clear about the current science surrounding sports-related concussions (SRCs) and related brain injuries, it is that very little is clear about the current science. However, the principle of utility is different from egoism which endorses pleasure of … Daniel Goldberg observes that “there is also a crucial social and political question that is not simply a function of that empirical evidence base: to what risks is it acceptable to expose youths and adolescents?”. A study of 3,904 Wisconsin men found no significant harmful association between playing football in high school and cognitive impairment or depression later in life. Do you agree? Now Mill admits that we seem to value some things other than pleasure and happiness for their own sake—we value health, beauty, and knowledge in this way. How do the tau clumps relate to the clinical syndrome—do the lesions fully explain the mood and memory problems? [48] In addition, evidence indicates (and is consistent with the self-serving bias) that industry funding of research often influences results. Children between the ages of 9 and 14 make up the largest cohort of football players in the U.S. In sum, according to utilitarianism, morality is a matter of the nonmoral g… [15] Everett J. Lehman et al., Neurodegenerative Causes of Death Among Retired National Football League Players, Neurology, 79(19): 1970-1974 (2012). [31] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019. Five million cribs had been sold. Others suggest that the uncertainty favors taking actions now rather than waiting until too much damage is done, as happened with tobacco. Explain. Explain. [59] At the end of the day, the jury still seems to be out on the question of whether you can go to a football game or watch one on television and still feel good about yourself for supporting a sport that seems to cause irreversible traumatic brain injuries. [83] Des Bieler, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy Says His Team Needs to Play for Benefit of State Economy,” Washington Post, April 7, 2020, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/07/oklahoma-states-mike-gundy-says-his-team-needs-play-benefit-state-economy/. It paid more than $750 million to settle a civil lawsuit by former players. One expert said “It really seems right now that if your [football] practices are highly controlled and reduced as much as possible and you only play four years of high school, your [CTE] risk is probably pretty low.”. [14] Jesse Mez et al., Clinicopathological Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encepahalopathy in Players of American Football, JAMA, 318(4): 360-370 (2017). If subconcussive blows are the cause of C.T.E., how much impact is too much? In this regard, businesses will take actions that bring them happiness. [45] Eamon T. Campolettano et al., Development of a Concussion Risk Function for a Youth Population Using Heal Linear and Rotational Acceleration, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 48(1): 92 DOI: 10.1007/s10439-019-02382-2. But in "Utilitarianism," Mill attempts to answer this criticism by arguing that the general happiness is best served by each person focusing primarily on themselves and those around them. It has been suggested at both the NFL and collegiate level that team physicians are faced with conflicting loyalties. Another study of 35 former NFL players over age 50 who had sustained multiple concussions during their careers found no significant association between the length of careers, the number of concussions, and their level of cognitive function later in life. [3], A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is “a disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or penetrating head injury.”[4] A concussion is a form of TBI where the blow causes the brain to move rapidly back and forth, bouncing around in the skull and suffering various types of structural damage. If you took a deontological approach, what would your reasoning look like? The co-chair of the NFL’s Health and Safety Advisory Committee has said that the committee thinks helmets are part of the culture and tradition and will not be outlawed in the foreseeable future. Though “The end justifies the means” can describe consequentialism, the phrase is often interpreted in a way contrary to utilitarianism. 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. [29] Julie Mack, What Parents Need to Know about Football, Concussions and Head Injuries, mlive.com, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/11/what-parents-need-to-know-about-football-and-head-injuries.html (quoting neuroscientist Julie Stamm). Is this an ethical issue? For many years this mining area has been protected by the Kachin Independence Army. A world in which this thing exists, or is possessed, or is experienced, is better than a world without it (all other things being equal). According to research by neuroscientists, “There seems to be greater consequences if you’re getting your head hit when the brain is rapidly developing [below age 12].”. If a healthy person wanders into the hospital, his organs could be harvested to save four lives at the expense of one life. [71] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle. [33] William Stewart et al., Primum Non Nocere: A Call for Balance When Reporting on CTE, Lancet Neurology, 18:231-232 (2019). Why or why not? [53] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis Is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019. Players Hit Back, New York Times, Sept. 26, 2017. Gammon, Katharine, “The Human Cost of Amber,” The Atlantic, Aug. 2, 2019.   https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/08/amber-fossil-supply-chain-has-dark-human-cost/594601/, Grimaldi, David, “Amber,” Current Biology Magazine. [82] Stephen S. Hanson, ‘He Didn’t Want to Let His Team Down’: The Challenge of Dual Loyalty for Team Physicians, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 45(3): 215-227 (2018). 1. [56] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis Is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019 (quoting brain scientists Adnan Hirad). “Football is both notorious and cherished for its unapologetic, brute-force violence.”[1] Players suffer bruises, lacerations, torn muscles, dislocated shoulders, torn knee ligaments, broken bones, internal organ damage, and, occasionally, even paralysis. Critics think that this makes utilitarianism unrealistic and too demanding. See also Michael Cunningham, Player Safety Takes Back Seat as NCAA Rushes to Allow Campus Workouts, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 22, 2020. [6] Mayo Clinic, at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921. Is Getting Soft. Even today Mill's essay "Utilitarianism," which was published in 1861, remains one of the most widely taught expositions of the doctrine. [68] Bill Pennington, Trump Says N.F.L. An NFL player who plays 24 games increases the likelihood of premature death by 16%. [47] There is also evidence that the NFL sought to influence the findings of some of the research it funded. What facts would you weigh in making the decision? [58] Other people believe that media discussions have impeded needed change in minimizing sports violence. A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story. [85] Michael Cunningham, Player Safety Takes Back Seat as NCAA Rushes to Allow Campus Workouts, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 22, 2020 (quoting Huma). The Kachin Independence Army, which includes ethnic minorities who live in the northern Kachin and surrounding regions of Myanmar, has been in armed conflict with the Myanmar government for the restoration of minority ethnic groups’ rights. We value love and friendship because they are sources of pleasure and happiness. Amber is a resin material that is formed from fossilized conifer tree sap during years of constant pressure and heat. Utilitarianism can be unpacked into three parts. Three Basic Principles of Utilitarianism, Briefly Explained. [74] Dave Bry, American Football is Too Dangerous, and It Should Be Abolished, The Guardian (UK), Jan. 4, 2016. Do you think that the NFL would make more safety-related changes if white players dominated rosters? [67] Adam M. Finkel & Kevin F. Bieniek, How Public Helath Science Evaluates Evidence, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 25(3): 564-589 (2019). 54 animated videos - 1 to 2 minutes each - define key ethics terms and concepts. Our society allows people to voluntarily choose to undertake many risky professions, including coal miners, fire jumpers, soldiers, underwater oil rig welders, and others. Earlyprecursors to the Classical Utilitarians include the British M… 1. And How Will It Change in 2019?, ESPN, Aug. 19, 2019, at https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27372974/did-helmet-rule-actually-work-2018-how-change-2019. In many respects, it is the outlook of Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) and his writings from the mid-18th century. It is a form of consequentialism. That's why he runs the two concepts together. [80] Anthony E. Prior, The Slave Side of Sunday (2006). A 2007 study found that retired NFL players experienced levels of depressive symptoms no worse than those of the general population. Westacott, Emrys. It is a form of consequentialism. [54] Marc Siegel, Concussions and Football: New Helmets, New Tools, The Hill, Aug. 19, 2019. [42] Sameer K. Deshpande et al, Association of Playing High School Football with Cognition and Mental Health Later in Life, JAMA Neurology, 74(8): 909-918 (2017). In a study of 14,000 NFL players, researchers found that even head impacts insufficient to cause concussions can mount up over the years, leading to CTE and premature death. Football causes more concussions than any other high school sport. And new knowledge about brain injuries have caused many people to call football immoral[2] and to advocate its abolition. [89] Mariana Brussoni et al., Risky Play and Children’s Safety: Balancing Priorities for Optimal Child Development, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9:3134-3148 (2012). Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020). First, there is the principle of utility and of the greatest happiness, which states that all behavior should be aimed at producing the greatest utility. [11] Justin Ehrlich et al., Mortality Risk Factors Among National Football League Players: An Analysis Using Player Career Data, F1000Research 2019, 8:2022. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/basic-principles-of-utilitarianism-3862064. Which approach do you think should be used to determine the ethicality of banning, or at least seriously reforming, football to reduce head trauma? [75] Steve Almond, Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?, New York Times, Jan. 24, 2014. It is also the reason why utilitarianism is very far removed from any kind of egoism. [60] Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020. Jeremy Bentham was a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law and one of the founders of utilitarianism. Myanmar is a small southeast Asian country that contains about 130 diverse ethnic groups recognized by the government. Utilitarianism Theory of Ethics Utilitarianism is considered as an ethical that is used to differentiate rights and wrong based on the outcome of an event. morally good. [5] Although concussions can carry serious consequences, they are termed a “mild” form of TBI because they are not typically life threatening. Why or why not. Being Your Best Self, Part 1: Moral Awareness, Being Your Best Self, Part 2: Moral Decision Making, Being Your Best Self, Part 3: Moral Intent, Being Your Best Self, Part 4: Moral Action, Ethical Leadership, Part 1: Perilous at the Top, Ethical Leadership, Part 2: Best Practices, Curbing Corruption: GlaxoSmithKline in China. Chen also points to the uncertainties of the science, noting: “For now, these complexities make certain questions about the disease unanswerable. For example, the lives of enslavers were more important than enslaved people; the well-being of a king was more important than that of a peasant. Most importantly, other studies seem to indicate that concussions may be more benign. The major alternatives to consequentialism are virtue ethics and deontology (rule-based ethics). 2. Are college (and high school) players sufficiently mature to make reasoned judgments based on such disclosures? And concussion recurrence has been reduced, most likely by protocols guiding when it is safe to return to play. Most utilitarians, though, talk mainly of happiness, and that is what we will do from this point on. On this basis, a priority for utili… [21] Adnan A. Hirad, A Common Neural Signature of Brain Injury in Concussion and Subconcussion, Science Advances 5(8), Aug. 2019. Deontological? All three? Explain. If you apply Systematic Moral Analysis to the question of whether or not it is moral to continue to support and/or play football, do you get different results for different league categories and age groups? In helping others, we should try to use our resources to do the most good, impartially considered, that we can. It suggests that people should make decisions that generate the greatest happiness for society. So in Bentham's time, this principle of equality was decidedly progressive. if it is done in accordance with a rule that yields (overall) happy consequences and. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020); Alan Schwarz et al., N.F.L.’s Flawed Concussion Research and Ties to Tobacco Industry, New York Times, March 24, 2016. [46] Robert F. Heary et al., Is Youth Football Safe? And so the principle of the greatest happiness holds that any act should always intend to achieve “the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.” So in that sense, utilitarianism gives us a sense of direction for what we should do and what decisions we sh… [40] Thomas L. Schwenk, Depression and Pain in Retired Professional Football Players, Medicine & Science in Sports & Leisure, 39(4): 599-605 92007)(but finding that when coupled with difficult with pain, problems with sleep and social relations often followed).