ABSTRACT
Sport is also added to the pantheon of value-spheres as an inner cosmos of salvation from the rationalised world. Two qualities of sport are emphasised: it is itself highly rationalised but still separate from the dominant rationalised spheres; and it is both trivial and, within its borders, immensely important. The value-sphere theory is used not only to explain these twin qualities in terms of winning and the rules of the game but also to show how the Enlightenment values of equality, justice and even fraternity find a unique manifestation in sport, even as freedom is denied.
