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153-465: Theories of ability aim to articulate the nature of abilities. Traditionally, the conditional analysis has been the most popular approach. According to it, having an ability means one would perform the action in question if one tried to do so. On this view, Michael Phelps has the ability to swim 200 meters in under 2 minutes because he would do so if he tried to. This approach has been criticized in various ways. Some counterexamples involve cases in which

306-477: A drill sergeant because of his disciplined and regimented ways. Phelps has said, "Training with Bob is the smartest thing I've ever done ... I'm not going to swim for anyone else." After the 2004 Summer Olympics, Bowman was hired as the head coach for the University of Michigan after Jon Urbanchek retired. Phelps joined Bowman at Michigan to train and attended classes over a span of four years, but did not pursue

459-456: A 51.1 split, at the time the fastest split in history. The final time of 3:33.48 was a world record. At Nationals, Phelps won the 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter backstroke, and the 100-meter butterfly. He became the first American swimmer to win three different races in three different strokes at a national championship. At the 2003 Duel in the Pool, a meet that pits swimming stars from Australia and

612-399: A certain ability to an agent often depends on which type of ability is meant. General abilities concern what agents can do independent of their current situation, in contrast to specific abilities . To possess an effective ability , it is sufficient if the agent can succeed through a lucky accident, which is not the case for transparent abilities . An important distinction among abilities

765-415: A certain job, e.g. operating a sand blaster . Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used. A skill may be called an art when it represents a body of knowledge or branch of learning, as in the art of medicine or the art of war . Although the arts are also skills, there are many skills that form an art but have no connection to

918-447: A certain set of abilities can be acquired when properly used or trained. Abilities acquired through learning are frequently referred to as skills . The term " disability " is usually used for a long-term absence of a general human ability that significantly impairs what activities one can engage in and how one can interact with the world. In this sense, not any lack of an ability constitutes a disability. The more direct antonym of "ability"

1071-693: A degree. Phelps served as a volunteer assistant coach at Michigan. After the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bowman returned to Baltimore as CEO at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club . Phelps also returned to Baltimore with Bowman. When Bowman was hired as the men's and women's swimming coach at Arizona State University in 2015, Phelps moved to Arizona to continue training under Bowman. There is a popular myth that Phelps ate 12,000 calories every day, but Phelps has stated it has been exaggerated and that he did not eat so much even in his growing days. Phelps's rapid improvement culminated when he qualified for

1224-477: A dispositionalist theory of ability, compatibilism is true since determinism does not exclude unmanifested dispositions. Another argument for compatibilism is due to Susan Wolf , who argues that having the type of ability relevant for moral responsibility is compatible with physical determinism since the ability to perform an action does not imply that this action is physically possible. Peter van Inwagen and others have presented arguments for incompatibilism based on

1377-470: A disqualification for a false start during a changeover in the heats, ending Phelps's chance of eight gold medals. Even though Phelps competed in the backstroke in international competition only once (at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships ), he was among the best backstroke swimmers in the world. This is illustrated by his personal best times set in 2007, four months after the World Championships. At

1530-417: A field with the two fastest freestylers of all time". In his fourth event, the 200-meter butterfly, held the following day, Phelps won a gold medal with a time of 1:54.04, breaking Tom Malchow 's Olympic record. About an hour later, in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte , Peter Vanderkaay , and Klete Keller , finished in first place with a time of 7:07.33. Two days later, in

1683-452: A forward-looking sense in contrast to backward-looking responsibility. But these are not the only connotations of these terms. A common view concerning moral responsibility is that the ability to control one's behavior is necessary if one is to be responsible for it. This is often connected to the thesis that alternative courses of action were available to the agent, i.e. that the agent had the ability to do otherwise. But some authors, often from

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1836-465: A hole-in-one. But the modal approach seems to suggest that such a beginner still has the corresponding ability since what is actual is also possible. A series of arguments against this approach is due to Anthony Kenny , who holds that various inferences drawn in modal logic are invalid for ability ascriptions. These failures indicate that the modal approach fails to capture the logic of ability ascriptions. It has also been argued that, strictly speaking,

1989-533: A new world record in the event with a time of 3 minutes and 29.34 seconds, 0.7 seconds ahead of second-place Australia and 1.34 seconds faster than the previous record set by the United States at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. When Phelps dived in to swim the 100-meter butterfly leg, the third leg of the 400-meter medley, the United States had been trailing Australia and Japan. Phelps completed his split in 50.1 seconds,

2142-431: A new world record in the event with a time of 3 minutes, 27.28 seconds. At the 2010 National Championships , Phelps competed in five individual events. In the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps won ahead of Ryan Lochte in a time of 1:45.61. About an hour later, Phelps returned to the pool to win the 200-meter butterfly. But Phelps was not happy with his performance and called it the "worst" 200-meter butterfly of his life. In

2295-417: A preliminary heat of the medley relay, he was also awarded a gold medal along with the team members who competed in the final. In winning six gold and two bronze medals, Phelps, still a teenager, had the second-best performance ever at a single Olympics, behind Mark Spitz 's seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics . Also, he became the second male swimmer ever to win more than two individual titles at

2448-526: A pure expression of one's own will that is not controlled by someone else. In the Kantian tradition, autonomy is often equated with self-legislation, which may be interpreted as laying down laws or principles that are to be followed. This involves the idea that one's ability of self-governance is not just exercised on a case-by-case basis but that one takes up long-term commitments to more general principles governing many different situations. The issue of abilities

2601-575: A second, and a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay , thereby equaling and then surpassing Larisa Latynina to become the all-time record holder for most Olympic medals won. Latynina was present at the race and asked the International Olympic Committee to be the presenter of Phelps's medal, but was told that Olympic rules would not allow it. She called Phelps deserving of the record. On August 2, 2012, Phelps won his 16th Olympic gold medal when he edged out Ryan Lochte to win

2754-402: A single Games with four, tying Spitz's four from 1972. At the 2005 World Championship Trials, Phelps decided to drop his specialty events, the 400-meter individual medley and the 200-meter butterfly, and experiment with the 400-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle. Phelps went on to win the 400-meter freestyle, the 200-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, the 100-meter freestyle, and

2907-581: A single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin , by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games , he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz 's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games . At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him

3060-435: A specialization. Epstein argues that many tasks require a variety of skills which tend to be possessed by more well-rounded people, and finding a task which is a better fit to one's personality and interests can overcome the advantage otherwise provided by having more practice earlier in life and attempting peak performance as a younger person. Someone who has demonstrated a high level of knowledge or skill in multiple disciplines

3213-411: A specific ability, the converse is also possible. Even though most people lack the general ability to jump 2 meters high, they may possess the specific ability to do so when they find themselves on a trampoline. The reason that they lack this general ability is that they would fail to execute it in most circumstances. It would be necessary to succeed in a suitable proportion of the relevant cases for having

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3366-399: A specific situation. So while an expert piano player always has the general ability to play various piano pieces, they lack the corresponding specific ability if they are chained to a wall, if no piano is present or if they are heavily drugged. In such cases, some of the necessary conditions for using the ability are not met. While this example illustrates a case of a general ability without

3519-415: A specific task or situation. It involves both understanding and proficiency in such specific activity that involves methods, processes, procedures, or techniques. These skills are easily quantifiable unlike soft skills , which are related to one's personality. These are also skills that can be or have been tested and may entail some professional, technical, or academic qualification. Holistic competencies

3672-448: A strong aversion, cannot form the volition to perform this action. So according to the conditional analysis, a person with arachnophobia has the ability to touch a trapped spider because they would do so if they tried. But all things considered, they do not have this ability since their arachnophobia makes it impossible for them to try. Another example involves a woman attacked on a dark street who would have screamed if she had tried to but

3825-460: A time 7:03.24. For his sixth race, the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps edged out Ian Crocker 50.77 to 50.82 to win his sixth gold medal. For his seventh event, the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps won the gold medal in a world-record time of 4:06.22, more than 3.5 seconds ahead of Ryan Lochte . By winning seven gold medals, Phelps broke the record of six set by Ian Thorpe at the 2001 World Championships . The 4×100-meter medley relay team received

3978-505: A time of 1:51.51. For his fourth race, the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 1:44.49 as the team went on to win the gold medal and break the world record set the previous year. After his loss in the 200-meter freestyle, many thought Phelps was vulnerable coming into the final for the 100-meter butterfly. His closest competitor, Milorad Čavić , who wore an Arena X-Glide (the same suit Biedermann beat Phelps with), thought people were making excuses for Phelps because he

4131-496: A time of 1:52.09. For his fourth race, the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps set his third world record with a time of 1:54.98, bettering his own world-record time of 1:55.84 For his fifth race, the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 1:45.36 as the American team of Ryan Lochte , Klete Keller , and Peter Vanderkaay went on to win the gold medal and beat the previous world record set by Australia in 2001 with

4284-450: A time of 1:56.50, just ahead of Ryan Lochte 's time of 1:56.78. At the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Victoria, British Columbia, Phelps won five gold medals and one silver. In his first event, the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps won in a world record time of 1:53.80, his first world record in two years. In his second event, the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps easily won with

4437-424: A time of 4:10.47, 3.38 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Robert Margalis . In his third event, the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte , Peter Vanderkaay , and Klete Keller , won the gold medal with a time of 7:05.28. In his fourth event, the 200-meter backstroke, Phelps won the silver medal, finishing behind Aaron Peirsol 1:56.81 to 1:54.44 (a new world record). In his fifth event,

4590-427: A time of 7:06.58. This was the fourth gold medal for Phelps. On July 30, Phelps swam in his last individual event, the 100-meter butterfly. In the final, Phelps could not match the speed of Ian Crocker and had to settle for silver, finishing 51.65 to 50.40, a new world record for Crocker. On July 31, Phelps earned his final gold medal when the United States team won the 4×100-meter medley relay. Phelps did not swim in

4743-567: A world record time of 1:54.23, finishing ahead of Cseh by over two seconds. Before the final of the 100-meter butterfly, US born Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić caused a minor stir when he said it would be "good" if Phelps lost. "It'd be good for him if he loses. It would be nice if historians talk about Michael Phelps winning seven gold medals and losing the eighth to 'some guy.' I'd like to be that guy", Čavić said. Phelps responded, "When people say things like that, it fires me up more than anything." On August 16, Phelps won his seventh gold medal of

Ability - Misplaced Pages Continue

4896-494: Is "inability" instead. Various theories of the essential features of abilities have been proposed. The conditional analysis is the traditionally dominant approach. It defines abilities in terms of what one would do if one had the volition to do so. For modal theories of ability, by contrast, having an ability means that the agent has the possibility to execute the corresponding action. Other approaches include defining abilities in terms of dispositions and potentials . While all

5049-417: Is absent when there is no intelligent force governing the entity's behavior at all, as in the case of a simple rock, or when this force does not belong to the governed entity, as when one nation has been invaded by another and now lacks the ability to govern itself. Autonomy is often understood in combination with a rational component, e.g. as the agent's ability to appreciate what reasons they have and to follow

5202-554: Is already fixed by the past, there seems to be no sense in which anyone could act differently than they do, i.e. that there is no place for free will. Such a result might have serious consequences since, according to some theories, people would not be morally responsible for what they do in such a case. Having an explicit theory of what constitutes an ability is central for deciding whether determinism and free will are compatible. Different theories of ability may lead to different answers to this question. It has been argued that, according to

5355-405: Is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at

5508-702: Is an animal, that it has short legs or that it has a slow metabolism. It is usually taken that these abilities have to be possessed to a significant degree but that perfection is not necessary. So even some people who are not aware of their slow metabolism may count as possessing the concept "wombat". Opponents of the ability-theory of concepts have argued that the abilities to discriminate and to infer are circular since they already presuppose concept possession instead of explaining it. They tend to defend alternative accounts of concepts, for example, as mental representations or as abstract objects . Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II OLY (born June 30, 1985)

5661-854: Is an umbrella term for different types of generic skills (e.g., critical thinking , problem-solving skills, positive values, and attitudes (e.g., resilience , appreciation for others) which are essential for life-long learning and whole-person development. Skilled workers have long had historical import ( see division of labour ) as electricians , masons , carpenters , blacksmiths , bakers , brewers , coopers , printers and other occupations that are economically productive. Skilled workers were often politically active through their craft guilds . An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carry out complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills). According to

5814-446: Is articulated in the form of a conditional expression, for example, as "S has the ability to A iff S would A if S tried to A". On this view, Michael Phelps has the ability to swim 200 meters in under 2 minutes because he would do so if he tried to. The average person, on the other hand, lacks this ability because they would fail if they tried. Similar versions talk of having a volition instead of trying . This view can distinguish between

5967-446: Is between general and specific abilities , sometimes also referred to as global and local abilities . General abilities concern what agents can do generally, i.e. independent of the situation they find themselves in. But abilities often depend for their execution on various conditions that have to be fulfilled in the given circumstances. In this sense, the term "specific ability" is used to describe whether an agent has an ability in

6120-429: Is between general abilities and specific abilities . General abilities are abilities possessed by an agent independent of their situation while specific abilities concern what an agent can do in a specific situation. So while an expert piano player always has the general ability to play various piano pieces, they lack the corresponding specific ability in a situation where no piano is present. Another distinction concerns

6273-403: Is called socialization . Soft skills are a combination of interpersonal people skills, social skills, communication skills, character traits, attitudes, career attributes and emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) among others. Development of a very high level of skill is often desirable for economic, social, or personal reasons. In his 2008 book Outliers , Malcolm Gladwell proposed

Ability - Misplaced Pages Continue

6426-450: Is closely related to the concepts of responsibility and obligation. On the side of obligation, the principle that " ought implies can " is often cited in the ethical literature. Its original formulation is attributed to Immanuel Kant . It states that an agent is only morally obligated to perform a certain action if they are able to perform this action. As a consequence of this principle, one is not justified to blame an agent for something that

6579-419: Is false. Another approach sees abilities as a form of potential to do something. This is different from a disposition since a disposition concerns the relation between a stimulus and a manifestation that follows when the stimulus is present. A potential, on the other hand, is characterized only by its manifestation. In the case of abilities, the manifestation concerns an action. Whether it is correct to ascribe

6732-495: Is not always the case. For example, the sentence "Usain Bolt can run 100 meters in 9.58 seconds" is usually not taken to mean that Bolt can, at will, arrive at the goal at exactly 9.58 seconds, no more and no less. Instead, he can do something that amounts to this in a weaker sense. The concept of abilities is relevant for various other concepts and debates. Disagreements in these fields often depend on how abilities are to be understood. In

6885-451: Is only so much I can do in a month and then I am going to prepare myself the best that I can." Phelps set an Olympic record in the preliminary heats of the 400-meter individual medley. He followed that up in the final by winning the gold medal, as well as breaking his previous world record by nearly two seconds. This swim went on to become the longest men's world record to stand in long course meters, beating Germany's Otto Farr who held

7038-433: Is relevant for various related fields . Free will , for example, is often understood as the ability to do otherwise. The debate between compatibilism and incompatibilism concerns the question whether this ability can exist in a world governed by deterministic laws of nature. Autonomy is a closely related concept, which can be defined as the ability of individual or collective agents to govern themselves. Whether an agent has

7191-484: Is required that the agent possess both the ability to discriminate between positive and negative cases and the ability to draw inferences to related concepts. Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various actions. Some abilities are very common among human agents, like the ability to walk or to speak. Other abilities are only possessed by a few, such as the ability to perform a double backflip or to prove Gödel's incompleteness theorem . While all abilities are powers,

7344-412: Is the greatest moment of my life. If you ask me, it should be accepted and we should move on. I've accepted defeat, and there's nothing wrong with losing to the greatest swimmer there has ever been." Epic. It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time. He's the greatest racer who ever walked

7497-404: Is understood as a general ability, it seems to be compatible with determinism. But this seems not to be the case if a specific ability is meant. Another distinction sometimes found in the literature concerns the question of whether successfully performing an action by accident counts as having the corresponding ability. For example, a student in the first grade is able, in a weaker sense, to recite

7650-672: The Portland Business Journal , people skills are described as: A British definition is "the ability to communicate effectively with people in a friendly way, especially in business." The term is already listed in major US dictionaries. The term people skills is used to include both psychological skills and social skills but is less inclusive than life skills . Social skills are any skills facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning such skills

7803-399: The 1972 Summer Olympics , and broke five world records. Phelps first gold medal came in the 4×100-meter freestyle. Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 48.42 seconds and Neil Walker , Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak each expanded the lead to win in a Championship record of 3:12.72, just missing the world record of 3:12.46 set the previous year. His lead-off time was faster than the winning time in

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7956-433: The 200-meter butterfly , Phelps made it four gold medals and world records in four events by swimming the final in 1:52.03, defeating silver medalist László Cseh by almost seven-tenths of a second despite his goggles' having filled up with water and being unable to "see anything for the last 100 meters. This fourth gold medal was his tenth, and made him the all-time leader for most Olympic gold medals won by an individual in

8109-472: The 200-meter individual medley with a time of 1:54.27, and by that victory also became the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics. Rebecca Soni and Phelps (twice) are the only swimmers to successfully defend an individual title from the 2008 Games. This win also marked Phelps's fifth Olympic title in the individual medley, breaking the record of four shared by Hungarian Tamás Darnyi and Ukrainian Yana Klochkova . He repeated

8262-513: The 2000 Summer Olympics at the age of 15, as he became the youngest male (since Ralph Flanagan in 1932) to make a U.S. Olympic swim team in 68 years. While he did not win a medal, he did make the finals and finished fifth in the 200-meter butterfly . At the World Championship Trials for the 2001 World Aquatics Championships , on March 30, Phelps broke the world record in the 200-meter butterfly to become, at 15 years and 9 months,

8415-400: The 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships , Phelps opted out swimming in the final of the 200-meter freestyle to focus on the 200-meter butterfly. In the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps led from start to finish, coming in first with a time of 1:54.11. Although it was much slower than his 1:51.51 time from the previous year, Phelps had not lost a 200-meter butterfly final since 2002. On day two of

8568-569: The 2016 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations . He announced his second retirement on August 12, 2016, having won more medals than 161 countries. He won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award in 2017. He is widely regarded as the greatest swimmer of all time and is often considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. Phelps was born in Baltimore , Maryland, and raised in

8721-538: The 400-meter individual medley . It was the first time Phelps failed to medal in an Olympic event since 2000. The next night, in his second event of the Games, he got a silver as a member of the 4×100-meter free relay . Phelps swam the fastest leg of the US relay team and the second-fastest of anyone in the race. On July 31, 2012, Phelps won a silver medal in the 200-meter butterfly behind South African Chad le Clos by 5/100ths of

8874-470: The Rodgers Forge neighborhood of nearby Towson . He attended Rodgers Forge Elementary, Dumbarton Middle School , and Towson High School . Phelps is the youngest of three children. His mother, Deborah Sue "Debbie" Phelps ( née Davisson), is a middle school principal. His father, Michael Fred Phelps, was a retired Maryland State Trooper who played football in high school and college and tried out for

9027-567: The US Nationals in Indianapolis on August 1, 2007, Phelps swam a 1:54.65 in the 200-meter backstroke, which was the third fastest of all time in the event, 0.33 of a second off the world record of 1:54.32 held by Ryan Lochte . Two days later Phelps swam a time of 53.01 sec in the 100-meter backstroke, 0.03 of a second short of the world record of 52.98 held by Aaron Peirsol and the second-fastest performance of all time. In 2007 Phelps swam into

9180-482: The Washington Redskins in the 1970s. His parents divorced in 1994 when he was nine years old, and his father remarried in 2000. Phelps later revealed that the divorce had a severe negative impact on him and his siblings, and his relationship with his father was distant for a few years after the divorce. He graduated from Towson High School in 2003. Phelps began swimming at the age of seven, partly because of

9333-502: The World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines. During the Games, Phelps passed all nine tests that were administered to him. At the 2009 National Championships, Phelps drastically shortened his program, swimming in only three individual events. In his first event, the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps won with a time of 1:44.23. In his second event, the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps easily won with a time of 1:52.76, 0.88 seconds ahead of

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9486-485: The championship record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 48.13. In his final event, Phelps swam in the 4×100-meter medley relay with Aaron Peirsol , Mark Gangloff , and Adrian and finished first ahead of Japan and Australia. In his first event at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Phelps won bronze in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay with Garrett Weber-Gale , Jason Lezak, and Nathan Adrian . This

9639-521: The fine arts . People need a broad range of skills to contribute to the modern economy. A joint ASTD and U.S. Department of Labor study showed that through technology, the workplace is changing, and identified 16 basic skills that employees must have to be able to change with it. Three broad categories of skills are suggested: technical, human, and conceptual. The first two can be substituted with hard and soft skills, respectively. Hard skills, also called technical skills, are any skills relating to

9792-496: The free will debate , for example, a central question is whether free will, when understood as the ability to do otherwise, can exist in a world governed by deterministic laws of nature . Free will is closely related to autonomy , which concerns the agent's ability to govern oneself. Another issue concerns whether someone has the moral obligation to perform a certain action and is responsible for succeeding or failing to do so. This issue depends, among other things, on whether

9945-406: The most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row. Phelps is a former long course world record holder in the 200-meter freestyle , 100-meter butterfly , 200-meter butterfly , 200-meter individual medley , and 400-meter individual medley . He has won 82 medals in major international long course competitions, of which 65 were gold, 14 silver, and three bronze, spanning

10098-406: The specific ability in this particular instance. Modal theories of ability focus not on what the agent would do under certain circumstances but on what is possible for the agent to do. This possibility is often understood in terms of possible worlds . On this view, an agent has the ability to perform a certain action if there is a complete and consistent way how the world could have been, in which

10251-479: The "10,000 hour rule", that world-class skill could be developed by practicing for 10,000 hours. This principle was disputed by other commentators, pointing out feedback is necessary for improvement, and that practice is no guarantee of success. In his 2019 book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World , David Epstein argues that a period of sampling different activities (whether musical instruments, sports, or professions) can be helpful before choosing

10404-551: The 100 backstroke world record from 1912 until 1926. Phelps swam the first leg of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay in a time of 47.51 seconds (an American record for the 100-meter freestyle), and won his second gold medal of the 2008 Olympics, as well as setting his second world record of the Olympics (3:08.24). Teammate Jason Lezak, after beginning the anchor leg more than half a body length behind Alain Bernard , managed to finish ahead of

10557-411: The 100-meter butterfly, Phelps won his 50th national title in 50.65. After the race, Phelps said he was "fairly pleased" with the result. In the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps finished second to Lochte 1:55.94 to 1:54.84. It was the first time Lochte had beat Phelps in a major national meet. In the 200-meter backstroke, Phelps finished in 4th place in 1:56.98. On the first day of competition at

10710-620: The 100-meter freestyle, Phelps placed second in his heat with a time of 47.92, ensuring him a spot on the relay. In his fourth event, the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps won with a time of 1:52.20. In his fifth event, the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps broke his own world record of 1:54.98 with a time of 1:54.80. In his sixth and final event, the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps won with a time of 50.89. When asked about his chances of winning eight gold medals in Beijing, Phelps said, "I am going to prepare for that meet just like I do every other meet ... There

10863-418: The 200- and 400-meter individual medley, the 100- and 200-meter butterfly, the 200-meter freestyle, and the 200-meter backstroke. In his first event, the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps easily won with a world record time of 4:08.41. Two days later, in the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps won with a time of 1:46.27, finishing sixth-tenths of a second ahead of Klete Keller . Phelps, however, was not pleased with

11016-528: The 200-meter butterfly, he won his first gold medal with a time of 1:53.34 to become the first swimmer to win five gold medals in one discipline at the World Aquatics Championships. In his fourth event, the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps again finished second to Lochte in a personal best of 1:54.16, which was 0.16 behind Lochte who swam a new world record. It was Phelps's 30th medal in the World Aquatics Championships. Shortly after completing

11169-514: The 200-meter butterfly, on July 23, Phelps easily won the gold medal, but did not come close to his world record with a time of 1:54.35. Less than an hour later, Phelps swam the lead-off leg for the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Phelps put up a solid time of 1:46.60 (an American record) but the Americans could not match the depth of the Australians and ultimately finished second 7:10.26 to 7:08.58. In

11322-486: The 200-meter freestyle because he wanted to race Ian Thorpe . Even though Phelps did not compete in the 100-meter freestyle at the Trials, he was still selected for the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Gary Hall, Jr. thought this was unfair and said Phelps did not deserve a spot on the relay. Phelps argued his program was too crowded to compete in 100-meter freestyle and was at least among the top four swimmers because he had beaten

11475-422: The 200-meter freestyle with a new American national record (NR) time of 1:45.20, finishing ahead of Grant Hackett . Two days later, on July 28, Phelps finished seventh in the 100-meter freestyle final. Later that day, Phelps won his third gold in the 200-meter individual medley. On July 29, Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte , Peter Vanderkaay and Klete Keller , won the gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with

11628-448: The 200-meter individual medley and was just off the world record in the 200-meter butterfly. In the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps bettered the world record held by Tom Dolan with a time of 4:11.09, just ahead of Erik Vendt , who finished second with a time of 4:11.27, also below the old world record. In the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps was barely beaten by Klete Keller and in the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps beat Ian Crocker . At

11781-503: The 200-meter individual medley at the Trials. At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships , Phelps won a total of six medals, five golds and one silver. In the 400-meter freestyle, Phelps did not make it past the preliminary heats and finished 18th overall with a time of 3:50.53. Later that day, in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Phelps won his first gold in the Championships. Two days later, on July 26, Phelps won his second gold in

11934-429: The 200-meter individual medley title ahead of Ryan Lochte by 2.70 seconds. The following day, Phelps finished second to Ian Crocker in the 100-meter butterfly. Crocker won in a time of 50.76, a world record and 0.39 seconds ahead of Phelps. When the Trials were over, Phelps became the first person to qualify in six individual events for a U.S. Olympic team. However, Phelps dropped the 200-meter backstroke to focus on

12087-444: The 200-meter individual medley, Phelps dominated. On July 24, in the semi-finals of the 200-meter individual medley, he broke his own world record with a time of 1:57.52. On July 25, in the final of the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps smashed his own record with a time of 1:56.04 to win the gold medal and finished almost 3 seconds ahead of Ian Thorpe . About an hour before the final of the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps swam in

12240-400: The 200-meter individual medley, Phelps finished first with a time of 1:57.14, an Olympic record. In the 100-meter butterfly final, held the following day, Phelps defeated American teammate Ian Crocker (who held the world record in the event at the time) by just 0.04 seconds with a time of 51.25. Traditionally, the American who places highest in an individual event will be automatically given

12393-462: The 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Japan, Phelps won three gold medals and two silvers. In his first event, the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps won gold ahead of Erik Vendt with a time of 4:12.48. In the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps lost to Tom Malchow , finishing behind him 1:55.41 to 1:55.21. Phelps said he lost because he did not take butterfly training seriously after he broke

12546-524: The 2008 Games. After the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps started the Michael Phelps Foundation , which focuses on growing the sport of swimming and promoting healthier lifestyles. Phelps retired following the 2012 Olympics, but he made a comeback in April 2014. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, his fifth Olympics, he was selected by his team to be the flag bearer of the United States at

12699-474: The 2008 Olympics, Phelps was questioned by the press as to whether perhaps his feats were "too good to be true", a reference to unsupported rumors that Phelps might be taking performance-enhancing substances . In response, Phelps noted that he had signed up for Project Believe , a project by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in which U.S. Olympians can volunteer to be tested in excess of

12852-646: The 2012 Olympics, Phelps retired from swimming, stating: "I'm done. I'm finished. I'm retired. I'm done. No more," and that "I just wanted to be done with swimming and didn't want anything to do with the sport anymore." Skill A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain -general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of general skills include time management , teamwork and leadership , and self- motivation . In contrast, domain-specific skills would be used only for

13005-457: The 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Neil Walker , Cullen Jones , and Jason Lezak, won the gold medal with a world-record time 3:12.46. In his sixth event, the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps won with a world record time of 1:55.84, breaking his record of 1:55.94 set in 2003. At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships , Phelps won seven gold medals, tying the record for a global long-course championship held by Mark Spitz since

13158-526: The American team finished first with a time of 6:58.56. The Americans were the first team to break the seven-minute mark in the relay, and broke the previous record, set in Melbourne, Australia, by more than four and a half seconds. After taking a day off from finals (Phelps did swim in qualifying heats), Phelps won his sixth gold of the Beijing Games on August 15 by winning the 200-meter individual medley with

13311-459: The Games in as many events, "Dream as big as you can dream, and anything is possible ... I am sort of in a dream world. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it is real." On August 17, Phelps won his eighth gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay, breaking Mark Spitz 's record of seven gold medals won in a single Olympic Games, which had stood since 1972. Phelps, along with teammates Brendan Hansen , Aaron Peirsol , and Jason Lezak, set

13464-428: The Games in the men's 100-meter butterfly, setting an Olympic record for the event with a time of 50.58 seconds and edging out his nearest competitor Čavić, by one hundredth (0.01) of a second. Unlike all six of his previous events in the 2008 Games, Phelps did not set a new world record, leaving intact Ian Crocker 's world-record time of 50.40 seconds, set in 2005. Phelps's finish 0.01 seconds ahead of Čavić prompted

13617-786: The Olympics, the World Championships , and the Pan Pacific Championships . Phelps's international titles and record-breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award eight times and American Swimmer of the Year Award eleven times, as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2012 and 2016. Phelps earned Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award due to his unprecedented Olympic success in

13770-580: The Serbian delegation to file a protest. Subsequent analysis of the video by the FINA panel, which required analyzing frames shot 1/10,000th of a second apart, was used to officially confirm Phelps's victory, but the images were not immediately released to the press. The initial refusal by official timekeeper Omega to release underwater photos of the finish also raised questions due to Phelps's sponsorship relationship with Omega. Čavić later wrote in his blog, "People, this

13923-503: The United States, Phelps broke the world record in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4:10.73 and almost broke the world record in the 100-meter butterfly, just missing the record by 0.03 seconds. At a meet in Santa Clara County, California, Phelps broke the world record in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 1:57.94. Phelps said he broke the 200-meter individual medley world record after Don Talbot said Phelps

14076-403: The ability to A in circumstances C iff she has the disposition to A when, in circumstances C , she tries to A ". This view is closely related to the conditional analysis but differs from it because the manifestation of dispositions can be prevented through the presence of so-called masks and finks . In these cases, the disposition is still present even though the corresponding conditional

14229-416: The ability to discriminate between positive and negative cases and the ability to draw inferences from this concept to related concepts. So, on the one hand, a person possessing the concept "wombat" should be able to distinguish wombats from non-wombats (like trees, DVD-players or cats). On the other hand, this person should be able to point out what follows from the fact that something is a wombat, e.g. that it

14382-408: The ability to do something and the possibility that one does something: only having the ability implies that the agent can make something happen according to their will. This definition of ability is closely related to Hume's definition of liberty as "a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will". But it is often argued that this is different from having a free will in

14535-440: The ability to perform a certain action is important for whether they have a moral obligation to perform this action. If they possess it, they may be morally responsible for performing it or for failing to do so. Like in the free will debate, it is also relevant whether they had the ability to do otherwise. A prominent theory of concepts and concept possession understands these terms in relation to abilities. According to it, it

14688-456: The achievement of winning the same event at three Olympics the following evening, winning the Olympic gold medal in the 100 m butterfly , his last individual event. After two very close victories in the 100 m butterfly at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics (by 0.04 and 0.01 sec, respectively), in this race Phelps beat Le Clos and Yevgeny Korotyshkin , who tied for silver, by 0.23 sec. Phelps's final event

14841-492: The age of 10, he held a national record for his age group (in the 100-meter butterfly) and began to train at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under coach Bob Bowman . More age group records followed, and as of August 21, 2018, Phelps still held 11 age group records, eight in long course, and three in short course. Phelps has trained under Bob Bowman since he was 11 years old. Bowman swam for Florida State University from 1983 to 1985. Phelps has said Bowman reminded him of

14994-414: The agent actually lacks the ability to perform them. For example, not knowing the combination of the safe, the agent lacks the ability to open the safe. But dialing the right combination is possible, i.e. there is a possible world in which, through a lucky guess, the agent succeeds at opening the safe. Because of such cases, it is necessary to add further conditions to the analysis above. These conditions play

15147-442: The agent has the ability to perform the action in question and on whether they could have done otherwise. The ability-theory of concepts and concept possession defines them in terms of two abilities: the ability to discriminate between positive and negative cases and the ability to draw inferences to related concepts. The topic of abilities plays an important role in the free will debate. The free will debate often centers around

15300-410: The agent is physically able to do something but unable to try, due to a strong aversion. In order to avoid these and other counterexamples, various alternative approaches have been suggested. Modal theories of ability, for example, focus on what is possible for the agent to do. Other suggestions include defining abilities in terms of dispositions and potentials. An important distinction among abilities

15453-436: The agent performs the corresponding action. This approach easily captures the idea that an agent can possess an ability without executing it. In this case, the agent does not perform the corresponding action in the actual world but there is a possible world where they perform it. The problem with the approach described so far is that when the term "possible" is understood in the widest sense, many actions are possible even though

15606-451: The all-time top three performances in seven individual events, four of these being world records. At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials , Phelps competed in six individual events. In his first event, the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps broke his own world record of 4:06.22 with a time of 4:05.25. In his second event, the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps won with a time of 1:44.10, ahead of Peter Vanderkaay 's time 1:45.85. In his third event,

15759-417: The competition, Phelps competed in the 100-meter butterfly and contributed in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps finished first in a time of 50.86, a championship record. In the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Phelps, with Lochte, Jason Lezak , and Nathan Adrian , finished first ahead of Australia and South Africa. As the lead-off leg in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Phelps set

15912-512: The competition, Phelps swam in the heats of the 400-meter individual medley and contributed in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. In the heats of the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps failed to make the A final, with Lochte and Tyler Clary taking the top two American positions. Phelps did not swim in the B final of the 400-meter individual medley. In the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps, with Peter Vanderkaay , Ricky Berens , and Lochte, finished first ahead of Japan and Australia. On day three of

16065-444: The concepts "wombat" and "animal". Someone who does not possess the concept "wombat" may still be able to read the sentence but cannot entertain the corresponding proposition. There are various theories concerning how concepts and concept possession are to be understood. One prominent suggestion sees concepts as cognitive abilities of agents. Proponents of this view often identify two central aspects that characterize concept possession:

16218-409: The concepts used in these different approaches are closely related, they have slightly different connotations, which often become relevant for avoiding various counterexamples. The conditional analysis of ability is the traditionally dominant approach. It is often traced back to David Hume and defines abilities in terms of what one would do if one wanted to, tried to or had the volition to do so. It

16371-508: The conditional analysis is not different from the modal approach since it is just one special case of it. This is true if conditional expressions themselves are understood in terms of possible worlds , as suggested, for example, by David Kellogg Lewis and Robert Stalnaker . In this case, many of the arguments directed against the modal approach may equally apply to the conditional analysis. The dispositional approach defines abilities in terms of dispositions. According to one version, " S has

16524-454: The converse is not true, i.e. there are some powers that are not abilities. This is the case, for example, for powers that are not possessed by agents, like the power of salt to dissolve in water. But some powers possessed by agents do not constitute abilities either. For example, the power to understand French is not an ability in this sense since it does not involve an action, in contrast to the ability to speak French. This distinction depends on

16677-422: The corresponding leg in the 4×100-meter medley relay final. This gave Phelps an automatic entry into the medley relay, but he deferred and Crocker swam instead. Phelps's gesture gave Crocker a chance to make amends (for a mistake at the start of the freestyle relay) as well, getting his final shot at a gold medal. The American medley team went on to win the event in world-record time, and, since Phelps had raced in

16830-517: The difference between actions and non-actions. Actions are usually defined as events that an agent performs for a purpose and that are guided by the person's intention , in contrast to mere behavior, like involuntary reflexes. In this sense, abilities can be seen as intelligent powers . Various terms within the semantic field of the term "ability" are sometimes used as synonyms but have slightly different connotations. Dispositions , for example, are often equated with powers and differ from abilities in

16983-450: The fact that the laws of nature impose limits on our abilities. These limits are so strict in the case of determinism that the only abilities possessed by anyone are the ones that are actually executed, i.e. there are no abilities to do otherwise than one actually does. Autonomy is usually defined as the ability to govern oneself. It can be ascribed both to individual agents, like human persons, and to collective agents, like nations. Autonomy

17136-438: The fastest butterfly split ever for the event, giving teammate Jason Lezak a more than half-second lead for the final leg, which he held onto to clinch the event in world record time. Said Phelps, upon completing the event that awarded him his eighth gold medal and eighth Olympic record in as many events, "Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are ... Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to." During

17289-445: The favored French swimmer by eight hundredths of a second. The top five teams in the final finished ahead of the world record of 3:12.23 set the previous day by the American B team in a preliminary heat. Phelps remarked that Bernard's pre-race comments of "smashing the Americans" had "fired me up more than anything else". Le Nouvel Observateur noted "Phelps taking the time to applaud and console Bernard" and wrote that this sportsmanship

17442-435: The final of the 400-meter individual medley, on July 27, Phelps broke his own world record with a time of 4:09.09 to easily claim the gold medal. About half an hour later, Phelps earned his final gold medal when the United States team won the 4×100-meter medley relay. Phelps did not swim in the finals, but still earned a medal because he swam in the heats. At the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials , Phelps competed in six events;

17595-424: The finals but still earned a medal because he swam in the heats. At the 2006 National Championships, Phelps won three events. In his first event, the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps won with a championship record of 1:54.32. In his second event, the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps just edged out Ian Crocker 51.51 (another championship record) to 51.73. In his third event, the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps won with

17748-409: The first 10 digits of Pi insofar as they are able to utter any permutation of the numerals from 0 to 9. But they are not able to do so in a stronger sense since they have not memorized the exact order. The weaker sense is sometimes termed effective abilities , in contrast to transparent abilities corresponding to the stronger sense. Usually, ability ascriptions have the stronger sense in mind, but this

17901-459: The general ability as well, as would be the case for a high jump athlete in this example. It seems that the two terms are interdefinable but there is disagreement as to which one is the more basic term. So a specific ability may be defined as a general ability together with an opportunity. Having a general ability, on the other hand, can be seen as having a specific ability in various relevant situations. A similar distinction can be drawn not just for

18054-452: The gold. For his second race, the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps lost his first race in four years to Germany's Paul Biedermann . Phelps touched second in 1:43.22, but Biedermann smashed Phelps's record of 1:42.96 set in Beijing a year ago with a time of 1:42.00. Phelps took the silver graciously, but coach Bob Bowman threatened to withdraw Phelps from international competition because Bowman claimed Biedermann had an unfair advantage because he

18207-429: The idea that having an ability does not ensure that each and every execution of it is successful. For example, even a good golfer may miss an easy putt on one occasion. That does not mean that they lack the ability to make this putt but this is what the conditional analysis suggests since they tried it and failed. One reply to this problem is to ascribe to the golfer the general ability , as discussed below , but deny them

18360-411: The incompatibilist tradition, contend that what matters for responsibility is to act as one chooses, even if no ability to do otherwise was present. One difficulty for these principles is that our ability to do something at a certain time often depends on having done something else earlier. So a person is usually able to attend a meeting 5 minutes from now if they are currently only a few meters away from

18513-407: The individual 100-meter freestyle final later in the meet. Phelps set his first world record in the Championships in the 200-meter freestyle, his second race. Phelps won the gold ahead of Pieter van den Hoogenband and broke Ian Thorpe 's six-year-old world record with a time of 1:43.86. For his third race, the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps won the gold and bettered his own world record of 1:53.71 with

18666-402: The influence of his sisters and partly to provide him with an outlet for his energy. After retirement in 2016, he stated "The only reason I ever got in the water was my mom wanted me to just learn how to swim. My sisters and myself fell in love with the sport, and we decided to swim." When Phelps was in the sixth grade, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). By

18819-589: The meet with a time of 50.71. In his last event, the 4×100-meter medley relay, Phelps teamed with Nick Thoman , Mark Gangloff , and Nathan Adrian to win gold in a time of 3:32.06. Phelps's butterfly leg of 50.57 was by far the fastest butterfly leg in the field. For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps originally stated he would never do eight events again, and would instead try new events. Phelps said, "I keep saying I want to go down and start sprinting, but Bob [Bowman, Phelps's coach] really isn't so keen on that ... I don't think that's going to happen ... Over

18972-430: The meeting but hold instead that they are to be blamed for their earlier behavior that caused them to miss the flight. Concepts are the basic constituents of thoughts , beliefs and propositions . As such, they play a central role for most forms of cognition . A person can only entertain a proposition if they possess the concepts involved in this proposition. For example, the proposition " wombats are animals" involves

19125-508: The modern Olympic era. Moreover, Phelps became the first swimmer, male or female, to win three Olympic butterfly titles, after his two titles in the Athens 2004 Olympics. He also became the first swimmer to successfully defend an Olympic butterfly title. Less than one hour after his gold medal victory in the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps swam the lead-off leg of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. With Lochte, Ricky Berens , and Peter Vanderkaay , he won his fifth gold and set his fifth world record as

19278-419: The next four years, I'd like to try some different events, maybe not do some of the events I did here." However, at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials , the qualifying meet for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Phelps qualified in the same eight events that he swam in Beijing in 2008. He later dropped the 200-meter freestyle from his program, as he stated he wanted to focus on the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. During

19431-458: The planet. Phelps's seventh gold medal of the Games tied Mark Spitz 's record for gold medals won in a single Olympic Games, set in the 1972 Olympics. It was also his fifth individual gold medal in Beijing, tying the record for individual gold medals at a single Games originally set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Said Phelps upon setting his seventh-straight Olympic record of

19584-415: The planned location but not if they are hundreds of kilometers away. This seems to lead to the counter-intuitive consequence that people who failed to take their flight due to negligence are not morally responsible for their failure because they currently lack the corresponding ability. One way to respond to this type of example is to allow that the person is not to be blamed for their behavior 5 minutes before

19737-424: The question of whether successfully performing an action by accident counts as having the corresponding ability. In this sense, an amateur hacker may have the effective ability to hack his boss's email account, because they may be lucky and guess the password correctly, but not the corresponding transparent ability , since they are unable to reliably do so. The concept of abilities and how they are to be understood

19890-408: The question of whether the existence of free will is compatible with determinism , so-called compatibilism , or not, so-called incompatibilism . Free will is frequently defined as the ability to do otherwise while determinism can be defined as the view that the past together with the laws of nature determine everything happening in the present and the future. The conflict arises since, if everything

20043-426: The result and wanted to be in the 1:45s and was uncertain if he would swim the event in Athens. The following day, Phelps won in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:54.31, three seconds ahead of second-place finisher Tom Malchow . After two days off, Phelps was back in the pool and finished second to Aaron Peirsol (who broke the world record) in the 200-meter backstroke. Less than half an hour later, Phelps won

20196-410: The role of restricting which possible worlds are relevant for evaluating ability-claims. Closely related to this is the converse problem concerning lucky performances in the actual world. This problem concerns the fact that an agent may successfully perform an action without possessing the corresponding ability. So a beginner at golf may hit the ball in an uncontrolled manner and through sheer luck achieve

20349-419: The second-place finisher. In his third event, the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps won with a world-record time of 50.22. At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships , Phelps won a total of 6 medals, 5 golds and 1 silver. In his first event, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 47.78, well off his 47.51 performance in Beijing, but the American team was able to edge out Russia and France for

20502-414: The semi-finals of the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps competed in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with Peter Vanderkaay , Ricky Berens , and Ryan Lochte . Phelps's team won the gold medal in a time of 7:02.67. Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 1:45.53, the third-best leg in the field. In the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps won his third consecutive title (also winning in 2007 and 2009) and second individual title of

20655-399: The semi-finals of the 100-meter butterfly. Phelps dominated again, finishing in the top seed position with a world record time of 51.47. However, in the final of the 100-meter butterfly, on July 26, Ian Crocker erased Phelps's world record with a time of 50.98, to become the first man under 51 seconds. Phelps swam a 51.10 (also under his former world record), but had to settle for silver. In

20808-427: The sense of the capacity of choosing between different courses of action. This approach has been criticized in various ways, often by citing alleged counterexamples. Some of these counterexamples focus on cases where an ability is actually absent even though it would be present according to the conditional analysis. This is the case, for example, if someone is physically able to perform a certain action but, maybe due to

20961-478: The sense that they are not necessarily linked to agents and actions. Abilities are closely related to know-how, as a form of practical knowledge on how to accomplish something. But it has been argued that these two terms may not be identical since know-how belongs more to the side of knowledge of how to do something and less to the power to actually do it. The terms " aptitude " and "talent" usually refer to outstanding inborn abilities. They are often used to express that

21114-463: The strongest reason. Robert Audi , for example, characterizes autonomy as the self-governing power to bring reasons to bear in directing one's conduct and influencing one's propositional attitudes. Autonomy may also encompass the ability to question one's beliefs and desires and to change them if necessary. Some authors include the condition that decisions involved in self-governing are not determined by forces outside oneself in any way, i.e. that they are

21267-427: The term "ability" but also for the wider term "disposition". The distinction between general and specific abilities is not always drawn explicitly in the academic literature. While discussions often focus more on the general sense, sometimes the specific sense is intended. This distinction is relevant for various philosophical issues, specifically for the ability to do otherwise in the free will debate . If this ability

21420-405: The top-seeded Jason Lezak the last time he had swum against him. In his first event, the 400-meter individual medley, Phelps won his first Olympic gold medal in the world record time of 4:08.26. The following day, Phelps, along with Ian Crocker , Neil Walker , and Jason Lezak, finished in third place in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay with a time of 3:14.62. Crocker's lead-off time of 50.05

21573-433: The trials, Phelps finished first in the 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, and second in the 400-meter individual medley. In making his fourth Olympic team, Phelps holds the record for men for the most Olympic appearances in swimming representing the United States. On July 28, 2012, Phelps placed eighth in the morning prelims for the 400-meter individual medley. Phelps,

21726-547: The two-time defending Olympic champion, won his heat in 4 minutes, 13.33 seconds with a time that was well off his world record of 4:03.84 set four years earlier in Beijing, when Phelps won a record eight gold medals. He out-touched László Cseh by 0.07 seconds in his heat to qualify last for the final, locking out Cseh. In his first finals of the Summer Olympics, Phelps placed fourth behind fellow American Ryan Lochte , Thiago Pereira of Brazil, and Kosuke Hagino of Japan in

21879-419: The world record. In the 200-meter individual medley, Phelps won with a time of 1:59.70. In the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps, along with Nate Dusing , Klete Keller, and Chad Carvin , won the silver medal with a time 7:11.81 finishing behind Australia. The U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay team consisted of Aaron Peirsol , Brendan Hansen , Phelps, and Ian Crocker. In the final for the medley relay, Phelps swam

22032-610: The youngest male ever to set a world record in swimming. Previously the youngest male had been Ian Thorpe , who captured the 400-meter freestyle world record at 16 years, 10 months. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Phelps broke his own world record in the 200-meter butterfly while en route to become a world champion for the first time. At Nationals, the selection meet for the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships , in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Phelps set an American record in

22185-601: Was "proof that the person who swims in the wake of Mark Spitz is also a great gentleman." For his third race, Phelps broke his previous world record in the 200-meter freestyle by nearly a second and won his third gold medal. He also set his third world record at the Olympics, 1:42.96, winning by nearly two seconds over silver medalist Park Tae-hwan . In this race, Phelps became the fifth Olympic athlete in modern history to win nine gold medals, joining Mark Spitz , Larisa Latynina , Paavo Nurmi , and Carl Lewis . The next day, Phelps participated in two finals. In his first event,

22338-446: Was Phelps's first bronze in a World Aquatics Championships . Phelps swam the lead-off leg in 48.08, the second-best lead-off in the field behind James Magnussen 's 47.49. In his second event, the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps won silver for the second consecutive time at a World Aquatics Championships. This time he finished second to Ryan Lochte in the event with a time of 1:44.79, compared to Lochte's time of 1:44.44. In his third final,

22491-412: Was out of their control. According to this principle, for example, a person sitting on the shore has no moral obligation to jump into the water to save a child drowning nearby, and should not be blamed for failing to do so, if they are unable to do so due to Paraplegia . The problem of moral responsibility is closely related to obligation. One difference is that "obligation" tends to be understood more in

22644-431: Was the 4×100-meter medley relay in which he went on to win his 18th career gold medal and his 22nd overall. By winning 4 gold and 2 silver medals, Phelps concluded the 2012 Olympics as the most successful swimmer of the meet for the third Olympics in a row. After his last event, the international swimming federation FINA honored Phelps with an award commemorating his standing as the most decorated Olympian ever. After

22797-493: Was the worst among the field and was blamed on sickness. In the event many were calling The Race of the Century , the 200-meter freestyle that was held the following day, Phelps finished in third place behind Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband . Although this race ended the chance to match Spitz's record, Phelps had savored the challenge even though it was not his strongest event, saying "How can I be disappointed? I swam in

22950-448: Was too paralyzed by fear to try it. One way to avoid this objection is to distinguish between psychological and non-psychological requirements of abilities. The conditional analysis can then be used as a partial analysis applied only to the non-psychological requirements. Another form of criticism involves cases where the ability is present even though it would be absent according to the conditional analysis. This argument can be centered on

23103-405: Was unproven, using his words as motivation. At the 2003 World Aquatics Championships , Phelps won four gold medals, two silver medals, and broke five world records. Phelps broke his first world record on July 22 in the semi-finals for the 200-meter butterfly. Phelps swam a 1:53.93 to break his own world record of 1:54.58 set in 2001 and became the first man to swim under 1:54.00. In the final of

23256-410: Was wearing a full polyurethane swimsuit , specifically an Arena X-Glide . Bowman said, "It took me five years to get Michael from 1:46 to 1:42 and this guy has done it in 11 months. That's an amazing training performance. I'd like to know how to do that." Phelps rebounded from this loss and for his third race, the 200-meter butterfly, Phelps won the gold and broke his own world record of 1:52.03 with

23409-458: Was wearing an LZR Racer . Čavić even offered to buy Phelps a new suit. For his fifth race, the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps won the gold and became the first man to complete it in under 50 seconds, beating Čavić 49.82 to 49.95. The victory prompted a fierce celebration from Phelps. For his final event, the 4×100-meter medley relay, Phelps won his fifth gold medal. Phelps, along with teammates Aaron Peirsol , Eric Shanteau , and David Walters , set

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