- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
What I said is an argument in favor of scoring against a set of well-defined criterion. It not only complies with the spirit of sport (Most, if not all sports are scored against criterion) but also makes most sense in terms of measurement practices (Performance-based assessments are usually criterion-based).
Desirable as this might be, I think the counter-argument is that it is not possible to achieve this in figure skating.
Indeed, we push too hard in this direction only at mortal peril. What would it profit the sport of figure skating to gain the most comprehensive and definitive list of criteria, but lose its soul.
The first words of the Tao Te Ching are (as I am sure you know , "The Tao that can be written is not the true Tao."
In other words, any attempt to confine something within the bounds of syntax and grammar automatically leaves something out -- perhaps the most important part. (In mathematics, this statement can actually be given a formal proof -- it is Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem. [A big private to Seniorita.])
The translation of the Tao te Ching into skating parlance would go something like this: Any attempt to reduce to measurement the true Kwanliness of a skating performance is doomed before we begin. :yes: