Why Athletes Take Performance Enhancing Drugs Essay
Why do athletes take performance enhancing drugs? There are many reasons. These range from the athlete being driven by the craving for success and the rewards that come with it, to the sheer desire to reach the goal that they set when they first started out in their sport e.g. win Olympic gold. The athlete may not be good enough to achieve these targets through the professional athlete lifestyle alone, and so turn to performance enhancing drugs in order to do so.
From a philosophical point of view, utilitarian’s will have conflicting views on how to respond to the situation of a drug cheat athlete.
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that says what counts as a right action is one which produces the greatest amount of happiness, and that the happiness of each person is of …show more content…
In April of 2014 the Russian Athletic Federation announced abnormalities had been discovered in her biological passport for “use/attempted use of a prohibited substance/method”, and therefore stripped Shobukhova of her Chicago marathon wins of 2009, 2010, and 2011 as well as her 2010 London Marathon victory. Shobukhova was given a ban from competition for 3 years and 2 months, which ended on 23rd August 2015. She is now free to compete after having previously cheated. Who’s to say that it won’t be repeated?
With the above scenario of drug cheat athlete Shobukhova, an act utilitarian would say that the best course of action to take would be to assess the athlete’s reasons for going against the rules and cheating. They may say that if Shobukhova took the prohibited substance for a reason such as to allow her to win the prize money so she could support family members etc. then a reduced ban should be given or possibly even no ban at all. However, by letting Shobukhova away with the crime many people will be angered and drug use may be encouraged. The consequences of each possible reaction will be
From a philosophical point of view, utilitarian’s will have conflicting views on how to respond to the situation of a drug cheat athlete.
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that says what counts as a right action is one which produces the greatest amount of happiness, and that the happiness of each person is of …show more content…
In April of 2014 the Russian Athletic Federation announced abnormalities had been discovered in her biological passport for “use/attempted use of a prohibited substance/method”, and therefore stripped Shobukhova of her Chicago marathon wins of 2009, 2010, and 2011 as well as her 2010 London Marathon victory. Shobukhova was given a ban from competition for 3 years and 2 months, which ended on 23rd August 2015. She is now free to compete after having previously cheated. Who’s to say that it won’t be repeated?
With the above scenario of drug cheat athlete Shobukhova, an act utilitarian would say that the best course of action to take would be to assess the athlete’s reasons for going against the rules and cheating. They may say that if Shobukhova took the prohibited substance for a reason such as to allow her to win the prize money so she could support family members etc. then a reduced ban should be given or possibly even no ban at all. However, by letting Shobukhova away with the crime many people will be angered and drug use may be encouraged. The consequences of each possible reaction will be