Prof. Arthur Bahr on 21.01 Compass: Questions of value, incommensurability, and Winter Olympic Skating

Published on: February 13, 2026

In honor of the Winter Olympics (Men’s Short later today!), and since we’re thinking about questions of value and incommensurability in the Compass class right now, Prof. Arthur Bahr made a brief video that explains the current scoring system of figure skating and puts it–as well as the values it represents–in historical perspective: Below are the two earlier performances, conceived under different judging systems, that he refers to at the end of the video above. Happy Games!

1976 Innsbruck Olympics John Curry LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79TMsYRnEc
2012 US Nationals Jeremy Abbott LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHbADOamI3s