The Baseball PED Debate in Contemporary Philosophy

The Baseball PED Debate in Contemporary PhilosophyA year ago, I wrote an article about the grounds on which the Baseball Hall of Fame can exclude suspected users of performance-enhancing drugs, and the rights other public and private institutions have in regards to limiting membership. In the May/June 2014 issue of Philosophy Now, Darrin Belousek offers a different philosophical perspective on PEDs in baseball. Essentially, Belousek argues only virtue ethics, and not Kantian deontology or utilitarianism/consequentialism, can support an argument for banning PEDs. Unlike the other two theories, virtue ethics alone provides for a notion of individual excellence and integrity in athletics that forms a basis for an argument against PED use.

For a refresher on these three ethical theories, see my previous articles on virtue ethics, deontology and consequentialism.