Cheating is the Name of the Game – Conventional Cheating Arguments Fail to Articulate Moral Responses to Doping

One of the most common arguments in the discussion on doping is that it represents
a form of cheating. In this paper it is argued that common doping-is-cheating
arguments based on notions of rule-violation and unfair advantage are inadequate,
since they treat cheating as distinct from the structure and the logic of competitive
sport. An alternative approach to cheating in sport as regards performance
enhancement will be offered based on the ethics of participation in interpersonal
relationships. This participatory perspective points towards the need to broaden our
conception of agency and moral responsibility in relation to doping, beyond the
notion of the individual “drug-cheat” who acts in a vacuum.