Sports Ethics Presentation To Spark Community Conversation

Whitman County Library and Humanities Washington invite the community to an engaging conversation with Mike VanQuickenborne, a member of the 2017-2018 Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau.

This free event takes place Wednesday, May 2 at 6 p.m. at the Whitman County Library. 

Sports are far more than a game—they have a tremendous impact on our culture and develope moral values like courage, teamwork, and sacrifice.

Join philosopher Mike VanQuickenborne for a deeper exploration of our obsession with sports. What makes something a sport? Is competition more helpful or harmful? What makes sports admirable? Is being a fan really a good thing? Should video games be considered a legitimate sport? What are the implications if genetic engineering enables us to create genetically enhanced athletes? Explore the philosophical implications of sports, what they say about our culture, and the ways in which they can reveal our full humanity. 

Mike VanQuickenborne is a tenured philosophy instructor at Everett Community College, where he has been teaching since 1998. He has also taught philosophy at a variety of colleges on both sides of the Cascades. In between teaching courses, he has been researching in the area of sports and ethics since 2012. He has been a competitive swimmer at the collegiate level, as well as a water polo coach, but these days is content to ride his mountain bike on the trails. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College, earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and did graduate coursework at Purdue University.

Read an interview VanQuickenborne here!  For more information about this event, contact Whitman County Library at (509) 397-4366.