Doping in Sport as a Symptom and Factor of the Contemporary Society Crisis

2 State University of Physical Education and Sport, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, victor_manolachi@mail.ru Abstract: The crisis in sport, widely presented and quite evident at the moment, represents the issue of doping. The crisis character of what is happening finds expression not only in the fact of the consumption of doping substances, but also in the way the people in and out of the sport react to this fact. Today, it is quite obvious that the fight against doping, in essence, only aggravates the situation. It is not just about some imperfections of strategy and tactics of fighting this evil that are being applied. Paradoxically, the efforts generally made do not improve, but make the situation much worse. At present, the main factor in the spread of doping in sports is, of course, its unprecedented marketing. The measure of contracting doping in sport must be, of course, not only the fact that the athlete must be paid less, but, first of all, actions aimed at understanding the essence of sport and the high mission of the athlete in society. The problem of doping is a moral one. It must be realized that, like any other problem of this nature, it will be successfully resolved only when the athlete will forbid himself from doping substances, and not from the fear of being punished, but on the basis of a deep conviction that the victory obtained with this price is detrimental to the psychological, moral-psychological, logical view.


General characterization of the problem
The crisis situation in sport, widely monitored and quite evident at the moment, represents the issue of doping. The crisis character finds expression not only in the fact of the consumption of doping substances, but also in the way people in and out of the sport react to this reality. It impresses the inefficiency of the reaction, the inability of the sport to face the danger of self-destruction that imminently presents doping, which seriously affects the basic principle of sporting competition, or, in general, the principle of human relations is honest competition.
Today, it is quite obvious that the fight against doping, in essence, only aggravates the situation. It is not just about some imperfections of strategy and tactics of fighting this evil that are being applied. Paradoxically, the efforts generally made do not improve, but make the situation much worse. Anti-doping means of fighting do not diminish the profound basis of processes that generate doping, but lead to the repetition and even to keep up these processes, which is a clear testimony to the fact that the real circumstances of what is happening are not fully revealed to us. In this context, it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that there is an analogous situation to that in sport, complemented by the difficulty of contemporary society as a whole. The examples are numerous. Thus, the attempt to consolidate democracy in society, in a number of cases, gives rise to totalitarian forms of solving socio-political problems, but the fight against corruption is surprisingly a manifestation of the same corruption. A vicious circle is formed: good intentions, in the attempt to be implemented into life, lead to negative results, in the same way that they involve resolving the existing problem. The fight against doping in sports produces events that, from a qualitative point of view, are in the same order as doping. The cause of this situation is reflected by J. Huizinga as follows: "If we do not understand the misfortune of our culture, we involuntarily participate in its falsification" (Huizinga, 1992), a statement that must be taken into account.
Officially, who and with what means takes place this fight now? It must be carried out primarily by specially-organized services that control the means used by athletes who achieve high results in training and competitions. First of all, they include a certain type of preparations and procedures. Since this task is not a simple one and the role of the "human factor" is important, the crucial issue is the selection of highly competent specialists and an impeccable morality. And if, as far as the first task is concerned, we are doing a great deal in terms of the second task, the situation is much more difficult -both in general and in the real circumstances of today's life. At the same time, it should be noted that, in the latter case, the situation is much worse. However, first of all, the task of the quality of human material, which we have and whose exponents we are currently, must be realized. Here is manifested the "personality deficit", which, as F. Nietsche mentioned earlier, "takes revenge everywhere" (Nietsche, 2009).

The problem of "personality deficit" and ways to solve it
What is the essence of this type of deficit? On the basis of this, it consists in the degradation of the moral aspects of human life, the limited character of competence on his conception of the world. In principle, this misfortune is well known to society. For example, Buddhism, which is one of the world's oldest religions, reflects, in this case, avidya, the human (philosophical) metaphysical ignorance that is rightly considered the main cause of all suffering and trouble. The Human does not know the truth about his (human) existence, which, at the same time, is a mandatory condition for the productivity of his activity, the complete self-realization he is aspiring to at all times ("Hinduism. Jainism. Sikhism: Dictionary", 1996).
Thus, our problem lies in the personality deficit. The existence of this deficit is a problem in itself, but it is also the main impediment in solving it. It is simultaneously the symptom of the state of crisis, and its factor. This is the situation where man is in contemporary culture -both as a whole and individually, including the professional activity he carries out, for example in sports. It is often attempted to solve this problem in a simplistic way: it is proposed to create conditions of social life that will enable human to tend naturally, to observe morals, while considering that, in this case, first of all, it is necessary to ensure the possibility of successfully solving, through his professional activity, the problems of his own material well-being. According to this logic, it is necessary to increase the salaries of those working in the field in order to increase the quality of work, for example in the legal system or the state customs. The higher the salary, the greater the honesty (at least, the potential) -that is how most people judge about it. According to this opinion, the idea that the most honest people are oligarchs, and the most dishonest -the poor ones, must be accepted. We will notice that in sport, in accordance with such a vision, we must believe that the best paid athletes are morally stimulated to the greatest extent. It is known, however, that they are often the winners, and then the fact that the winners are, in most cases, those who use skilfully and often with the help of specialists, the doping substances are mentioned outside of our attention, and the problem, in essence, disappears, although it remains unresolved.
What is behind such representations (at first sight, quite logical), whose achievement does not ensure the expected results? First of all, this is a simplistic understanding of the common state of life itself, in which there is every man aspiring to self-realization, to victory, in other words, avidya. Secondly, it is under-appreciated that, in various cases, especially in social activities of different genres, the problem of actions taken in accordance with this aspiration has its own peculiarities.

Human self-realization: the essence of the phenomenon
Returning to the essence of the first statement, we will try basically to reveal what constitutes the process of human self-realization. First of all, we will notice that self-realization has a dual structure: the human's tendency to stand out, to feel his uniqueness in relation to others and his tendency to overcome his identity with others, the complicity to the life of society, in which the human wishes to emphasize himself, the tendency to find and confirm his identity with others. The sense of the Ego therefore, consists in the fact that human lives his own exclusiveness in the composition of society and, at the same time, in the sense of his considerable belonging, complete to this world. In essence, this is a metaphysical experience that unites the individual with the general. In this context, P.Tillih mentioned: "Subject becomes Subject just because he possesses the world, a structured universe, to which he belongs and which is also individual. The ego and the world are correlative. Also, the individualization and co-participation are correlative ... The ego always assumes the confirmation of that force of existence, to which the respective Ego participates (Tillih, 1998).
Ensuring the balance of the two aspirations -towards individualization and co-participation -is the priority task, which is present in any case of human self-realization. Without solving it, the self-affirmation of the human does not fully give to human the desired satisfaction (even in his own perception). We must not forget that any achievement of culture, any true human victory, presupposes human's aspiration towards the Absolute, to a metaphysical situation. J.Huizinga mentioned: "Culture must be metaphysical, otherwise it does not exist in general (Huizinga, 1992).
What is the situation with regard to the self-realization of human in the contemporary world? It is not difficult to find that the balance in question is substantially shaken. He worked in the direction of individualization and diminished in terms of co-participation, in other Doping in Sport as a Symptom and Factor of the Contemporary Society Crisis Veaceslav MANOLACHI, Victor MANOLACHI words, he diminished in particular in his metaphysical manifestation. As a factor of the individualization hypertrophy it is presented that under the present conditions of social life, the most appreciated for human becomes his ability to buy. The increased interest in enhancing this capacity is directly related to the unprecedented development of the product-money relations in society, which, at present, subordinates all other relations. Under these circumstances, human loses his deep interest in developing his production capacity, which implies the presence and realization of the natural need of the human to stay near another human, which in turn is therefore the main condition of social existence. The full self-realization of human presupposes the realization of self as that of the one who sustains the general principle, essentially human, in another human and which is, at the same time, accepted and sustained by what is common, presupposes the self-realization of human as a subject of co-participation. Currently, the real situation is just different. This was brilliantly characterized by K. Marx when he analyzed the capitalist means of production. Here, individuals are, first and foremost, the owners of products, and they "are in opposition as the bearers of the metamorphosis of the products" (Marx, 1974), but "the capital and the increase of its value are the main purpose both for the society as a whole and for each individual" (Marx, 1974). In this situation, people are separated, individualization is very high, co-participation -diminished; and the metaphysical element -suppressed. This is also the "personality deficit", in essence, the self-realization deficit. In this context, K. Marx opposes this other situation: "Let us assume that we could produce as humans. Since when you'd used or consumed my product, I would have been directly conscious of the fact that my human work was satisfied with a human necessity, and therefore the human essence materialized. I would have been for you an intermediary between you and the species and you would have been aware of me and perceived me as a complement to your own essence as an indispensable part of yourself in this way I would feel affirmed in your thinking and in your love (Marx, 1974).

The specifics of human self-affirmation: Ancient Greece and contemporary society
Personality deficiency is the main premise of doping. Doping is, de facto, every case when man tries to cover this deficit with means that do not correspond to the essence of human self-affirmation (personality). The dynamics of individualization and co-participation processes, which determine the productivity and character of this self-affirmation in any type of situation, in sport, is carried out differently. Each of these aspirations, from the very beginning, is enhanced in maximum extent: in front of the man the task of an individual victory is imperatively put and at the same time are proclaimed and created real conditions for all participants to enjoy equal possibilities in this competition. Each of these tendencies towards self-realization is presented to the greatest extent like being opposed to the other, and, at the same time, the necessity of fair competition is definitely fixed: the conjugation of opposing principles, the affirmation of the principle of coparticipation. Sport is not only an honest athletic composition but also an athletic competition of honesty (which requires maximum spiritual and physical efforts). These circumstances determine the specificity of human self-realization in sport, but also the acuity of the doping problem. The whole sport is a competition that meets all the conditions. In this case, the main moments of the dynamics of people's interpersonal relations are reproduced, namely, this is the general-cultural, anthropomorphic sense of sport. All other possible social functions are less important and, in essence, secondary. This fact was well realized of the ancient Greeks, for whom agon represents the central event in the social movement of the world (and in general also in the cosmic one), and sport is the most consistent and complete reproduction of the principle of the agon in human existence. In this connection J. Deleuse, F.Guattari stated: "Greek culture is the competition of free people, ascended athletics into a general principle, agon" (Deleuse & Guattari, 2009). Sport conveys the general idea of human existence. This idea has a metaphysical character. Like any other truly cultural, anthropomorphic activity, sport cannot be "a simple profession", a simple utilitarian activity (like religion, science, arts, etc.). In other words, it cannot, without losing his fundamental essence, be a sphere of activity in which man is motivated not by the aspiration to self-affirmation before the Universal, the "real collectivity" (K. Marx), not by the co-participation in the realization of the Absolute -always in one form or another, to a lesser or greater extent, but necessarily open to man, but first of all, to solve particular tasks, for example the sphere in which the growth of one's own the purchasing capacity of man has an absolute value. And this fact was known to the Greeks. This was their attitude to professional sport, which had begun to spread during the decline of the Greek culture: Euripides states: "There is an infinite multitude of boils in the whole Elada. But there is nothing worse than the athletes" (Coubertin, 1992). In connection with the possibility of such transformations, sport is an extremely tense activity and a great responsibility. The distortion of its essence represents not only a diminution Doping in Sport as a Symptom and Factor of the Contemporary Society Crisis Veaceslav MANOLACHI, Victor MANOLACHI of the principle of human culture in a certain sphere of social life. This is one of the most obvious and fatal variants of falsification of the existence of self-affirmation of man as such, and the consequences of this event are particularly great. This must also be understood by athletes, coaches and, of course, organizers in the field of sport, first of all the leaders of the Olympic Movement. The turning point of contemporary sport to commercialprofessional forms, which occurred in most decisive in the era of H.A.Samaranch, and which lasts for the most part today, with our active participation, must be redefined. It is necessary to take into consideration more carefully the opinion of P. de Coubertin, for whom sport has always been, above all, "a religious conscience" (in other words, a metaphysical, complete activity) (Coubertin, 1992), that is, it represented what is perceived to be truly accomplished only when the spiritual aspect is of primary importance to the executor.

Doping as the moral issue
Today, the main factor in spreading doping in sport is, of course, its unprecedented marketing, the triumphant power of money in society. The measure to counteract doping in sport must be, of course, not only the fact that the athlete must be paid less, but, first of all, the actions focused on understanding of essence of sport and the high mission that the athlete has in society. This, in turn, gives athlete the opportunity to live true selfrealization and sets the basis for the complete solution to the issue of doping in sports. Direct bans on consumption of doping substances can be more or less effective, but they will always be insufficient. The problem of doping is a moral one. It must be realized the fact that, like any other problem of this nature, it will be successfully resolved only when the athlete will forbid for himself the doping substances, and not from the fear to be punished, but on the basis of a deep conviction that the obtained victory with this price is detrimental to him, therefore, it must not be accepted from a psychological, moralpsychological, logical point of view. The athlete must, of course, be materially supported, in accordance with the general features of his lifestyle, but it is necessary that the attraction to this aspect must not become dominant. It's hard, however, it seems, there are no alternatives here, because in this dangerous direction we have advanced too much at present.
Thus, in fact, it is about updating the meaning that sport has ever had in the initial historical point of its existence, in Ancient Greece, where it was understand metaphysical profoundly, and where there was as activity expressing in a concentrated way the general idea of true human self-affirmation, much more acceptable, rationally affirmed and emotionally lived. Sport has manifested itself as a means of assimilating this idea by society, in which the aspiration for individualization and the aspiration for co-participation were in equilibrium. This is why the Olympian is not only the best athlete, but also the best Greek, chosen by the gods (Jaspers, 1996). That is why the gymnasiums and the palestra in which the Greek exercises agonal in physical activity, during its historical development, naturally, without significant difficulties, turn into spaces, in which philosophers evolve in front of the auditorium and then -in general education institutions. Given the multiple, superficial approaches to this issue, it should be noted that the Greek is competing naked -both in gymnasiums and in Olympic sport, and this for him is an important and serious moment of reality.
Here it finds a reflection, in a specific form, the profound understanding of sports competition as an activity that discovers, reveals the essence of man, gives the opportunity to himself and to the spectator to highlight his true status, which he gets in competition each of the participants and makes it, to a greater extent, univocally and exhaustively than in the case of the participation of the respectively human in any other activity, including ordinary competition, where, unlike sports, nakedness is not practicedpolitics, arts, recreational activity. Ancient sport is the reveal of the essence of man, while sport based on doping, the sport of today is its concealing. The Olympic Games turns into a carnival, masquerade show where the faces of the participants are behind the masks. Ancient sport is an old history. It is clear that a simple repetition of it is devoid of perspective and absurd, but the return to the Greek idea of sport is absolutely necessary under the current circumstances.

Sport and university education: their correlation in the development of competence regarding the conception about the human world
The educational, instructive meaning of sport in contemporary society is not fully acknowledged. Despite the enormous popularity of sport, its potential role in shaping competence regarding the concept about the human world it is not sufficiently appreciated (neither by the spectator nor by the athlete). The characteristics of sport as a cultural phenomenon are unequivocal and often rely on fixing the aspects that are easily detected at the surface of the phenomenon. At the same time, the sport, correctly understood, is oriented towards solving the same task as the academic training of man -the competence increasing regarding the conception about the world, contribution to the formation of its personality. The situation is such that sport complements in a particular way the academic instructional process. It contributes to the practical (practical-spiritual) appropriation of what is being studied during academic classroom, especially of those theoretical (therefore insufficient). Ideally, the athlete is a universally trained person (multilateral, academic), at the basis of the general culture of the athlete being the competence regarding the conception about the world which the sport involved, itself the agonal pronounced organization of the interpersonal relationships of the participants. The specialist with university studies in his turn, in one case is genuine, the person who in the sphere of his professional activity obtains training for the realization and defense in this activity of the general principle of sport honesty, which has an high aspiration towards achieving equity of which the human existence, essentially agonal, constantly sportive is permeated. To a certain extent, it can be said that, if properly organized, the practice of sport represents practical classes of philosophy, and the academic classes constitute the theoretical, metaphysical training of the agonal man, of the athlete in a broader sense. Thus, the situation as a whole assumes that sport teaches man what the university today does not teach, leaving him "simply a specialist" and the university offers to the man (maybe and must offer -that is its deep essence) understanding of what he often does not fully understand, remaining "simply an athlete", but what he has to acquire thoroughly, being essentially accomplished, agonal.
About the actuality of sport in overcoming the state of crisis of contemporary society The above mentioned allow us to conclude that doping nowadays is not a problem of overcoming the state of crisis in one of the spheres of life of our society, like sport. Doping is omnipresent, just as sport is omnipresent. J.Baudrillard mentions that: "Sport has already outgrown the domestic rivals: it is in business, in sex, in politics, in the general style of performance. Everything is affected by the sporting coefficient of superiority, effort, record" (Baudrillard, 2009). The issue of anti-doping struggle in sport is not simply one of the particular problems of our society full of suffering. It is really about "general style of performance" and, implicitly, about quality, about the essence of what human performance is as such. Sport is the measure of the moral purity of human self-realization, presented revealed: publicly and visibly, it is a polygon on which take place the approval of different models of human self-affirmation and is a struggle for the truthfulness of the idea of self-realization, practiced in society. Sport is the main sphere of such a