Les affinités électives entre l’art et le marketing – indissociables au sein d’un artketing – constituent désormais l’horizon d’attente d’un capitalisme artiste émergeant à la faveur de la mondialisation et de la mutation aussi bien de la production que des échanges. L’artiste, ainsi mis en demeure de contribuer à la dynamique du capitalisme, voire à sa refondation, peut tout aussi bien adhérer à un tel projet d’habilitation artistique de la production et de la consommation que décider d’en détourner, voire d’en (...) subvertir les processus de légitimation en se constituant lui-même en entreprise : telle est l’ambiguïté de la posture nouvelle de l’artiste-entrepreneur. (shrink)

The question of what constitutes and facilitates mental health or psychological well-being has remained of great interest to martial artists and philosophers alike, and still endures to this day. Although important questions about well-being remain, it has recently been argued in the literature that a paradigmatic or prototypical case of human psychological well-being would characteristically consist of positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Other scholarship has also recently suggested that martial arts practice may positively promote psychological (...) well-being, although recent studies on martial arts have not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from positive psychology to further explore and explicate this possibility. This article therefore contributes to the literature by reviewing recent work on psychological well-being and martial arts to determine whether there is substantive support for the claim that practicing martial arts can positively contribute to one flourishing with greater psychological well-being. (shrink)

This book disrupts disciplinary boundaries to make a case for the future direction and growth of martial arts studies as a unique field.

Martial arts and philosophy have always gone hand in hand, as well as fist in throat. Philosophical argument is closely paralleled with hand-to-hand combat. And all of today’s Asian martial arts were developed to embody and apply philosophical ideas. In his interview with Bodidharma, Graham Priest brings out aspects of Buddhist philosophy behind Shaolin Kung-Fu — how fighting monks are seeking Buddhahood, not brawls. But as Scott Farrell’s chapter reveals, Eastern martial arts have no (...) monopoly on philosophical traditions: Western chivalry is an education in and living revival of Aristotelian ethical theories. Several chapters look at ethical problems raised by the fighting arts. How can the sweaty and brutal be exquisitely beautiful? Every chapter is easily understandable by readers new to martial arts or new to philosophy. (shrink)

Within the sporting landscape much has changed from the proliferation and integration of new technologies, for example, the practice of mixed martial arts (MMA) has developed on the fringes of modern sport. It combines several martial arts, is practised in a cage, and allows ground strikes. MMA is presented here within a framework inspired by Norbert Elias’s theory of civilizing of aggressive impulses through sport. We reviewed more than 20 years of literature, with 785 international references (...) and a triple analysis of the discipline, those being physical violence, symbolism, the play impulse. (shrink)

J. S. Russell has argued that it is morally permissible for children to participate in dangerous sports and that much of value can be gained from such participation. He attempts to justify children’s participation in dangerous sport with two arguments, which he calls the common sense view and the uncommon sense view, and I apply the basic reasons given in these general arguments to the specific case of justifying children’s participation in mixed martial arts (MMA). To safeguard against (...) wanton and gratuitous risk of great harm, Russell also includes some basic limitations for children’s participation in dangerous sports, and I use these limitations as a general framework for providing a number of additional constraints to render children’s MMA morally permissible. (shrink)

The first authoritative overview of martial arts studies, written by pioneers of this dynamic and rapidly expanding new field.

The now-global phenomenon of Asian martial arts traces back to something that began in China. The idea the Chinese communicated was the dual cultivation of the spiritual and the martial, each perfected in the other, with the proof of perfection being an effortless mastery of violence. I look at one phase of the interaction between Asian martial arts and Chinese thought, with a reading of the Zhuangzi 莊子 and the Daodejing 道德經 from a martial (...) arts perspective. I do not claim that the authors knew about martial arts. It was not Daoist masters who took up martial arts, but martial arts masters who, at a specific time, turned to Daoism to explain the significance of their art. Today, though, Daoist concepts are ubiquitous in martial arts literature, and a reading of these classics from a martial arts perspective shows how they lend themselves to philosophical thinking about this practice. (shrink)

My topic concerns the martial arts – or at least the East Asian martial arts, such as karatedo, taekwondo, kendo, wushu. To what extent what I have to say applies to other martial arts, such as boxing, silat, capoeira, I leave as an open question. I will illustrate much of what I have to say with reference to karatedo, since that is the art with which I am most familiar; but I am sure that (...) matters are much the same with other East Asian martial arts. (shrink)

A groundbreaking approach to martial arts combining Self-Image Psychology and Qigong. Martial arts teacher Phillip Starr draws on more than sixty years of experience to introduce the Mirror Image Technique--a method that recognizes the reinforcing nature of body and mind. Our self-image expresses in how we stand, move, and hold ourselves in the world; and in martial arts, the way we move reflects the way we think on the mat, in practice, and when sparring. (...) Here, Starr pulls from Self-Image Psychology and Qigong to offer readers a unique set of physical exercises that can be applied to any martial art tradition--as well as our personal lives. Like two mirrors facing each other, the physical body both reflects and changes the mind, and vice versa: our physical movements become more than just the consequence of our intentions or thoughts. As we adjust the way we move, we adjust the way we think: about ourselves, our lives, and our environments. Unlike other self-help books that consider the mind as the sole gateway to change, the Mirror Image Technique shows that cognitive transformation starts with the body. Starr takes readers through: Demonstrating key principles of Qigong with exercises like The Unbreakable Arm and The Unliftable Body Improving your stance Increasing your strike force Insights into the mindset for breaking boards (tameshiwari). Intended to enhance growth and personal development, the techniques in Martial Arts and the Mirror Image lead to a renewal of confidence and enthusiasm for one’s particular practice. (shrink)

A groundbreaking approach to martial arts combining Self-Image Psychology and Qigong. Martial arts teacher Phillip Starr draws on more than sixty years of experience to introduce the Mirror Image Technique--a method that recognizes the reinforcing nature of body and mind. Our self-image expresses in how we stand, move, and hold ourselves in the world; and in martial arts, the way we move reflects the way we think on the mat, in practice, and when sparring. (...) Here, Starr pulls from Self-Image Psychology and Qigong to offer readers a unique set of physical exercises that can be applied to any martial art tradition--as well as our personal lives. Like two mirrors facing each other, the physical body both reflects and changes the mind, and vice versa: our physical movements become more than just the consequence of our intentions or thoughts. As we adjust the way we move, we adjust the way we think: about ourselves, our lives, and our environments. Unlike other self-help books that consider the mind as the sole gateway to change, the Mirror Image Technique shows that cognitive transformation starts with the body. Starr takes readers through: • Demonstrating key principles of Qigong with exercises like The Unbreakable Arm and The Unliftable Body • Improving your stance • Increasing your strike force • Insights into the mindset for breaking boards (tameshiwari). Intended to enhance growth and personal development, the techniques in Martial Arts and the Mirror Image lead to a renewal of confidence and enthusiasm for one’s particular practice. (shrink)

Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 90, Issue 4, Page 820, December 2012.

This essay argues that martial arts, especially Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), mediate the divine attributes of beauty, goodness, and truth just as much as the fine arts. Some may question the compatibility of martial arts with Christianity. Yet, according to the just war doctrine, fighting is permissible when defending oneself and others. Furthermore, instead of doing nothing about evil or injustice (pacifism) and escalating to violent killing, jiu-jitsu as a distinctive martial arts presents the (...) creative alternative of nonviolence. The essay considers various ways in which martial arts point to God through the analogy of being and the Tao. Jiu-jitsu resonates with Christian notions of perichoresis, self-awareness, rightness, flow, mystery, theosis, and epektasis. BJJ is beautiful in how it inspires existential wonder at the unique and particular gifts of the other. It searches for truth pragmatically and ethically, in a quest for combat effectiveness and social sustainability. Jiu-jitsu is good as it fosters inclusivity, respect, selflessness, and philanthropy. (shrink)

Barry Allen draws on his practical experience with a range of martial-arts traditions and his academic training in philosophy as he investigates the relationship between Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, and Asian martial arts. The writing is accessible, and the work as a whole provides insights in this area of interdisciplinary philosophy that will be of interest to martial artists and academics from a range of disciplines. Allen writes that his purpose is not to develop a (...) comprehensive philosophy of the martial arts but to instead study “selected features of Asian martial arts practice and tradition from a comparative philosophical perspective, identifying qualities that seem to me to... (shrink)

Zusammenfassung Mixed Martial Arts hat sich global und auch in Deutschland sukzessive zu einem sportkulturellen Mainstream-Phänomen entwickelt. Vorliegender Artikel untersucht die diskursiven und praktischen Logiken, nach denen sich das Feld des MMA organisiert. Der soziologische Blick auf MMA-Wettkämpfe zeigt, dass diese über körperlich relativ ungefährliche Performanzen eine Ästhetik körperlicher Gefährdung und darüber Vorstellungen von kämpferischer Authentizität herstellen. Basierend auf empirischem Material erweitert der Artikel den soziologischen Blick, indem er das MMA-Training untersucht. Auch hier finden, insbesondere in der Trainingspraxis (...) des Sparrings, praktische Konstruktionen von Vorstellungen kämpferischer Authentizität statt. Einerseits erfolgt dies darüber, dass die Praxiskonfiguration des Sparrings die kontrollierte Herstellung eines Erlebnisses kämpferischer Unkontrolliertheit ermöglicht. Andererseits erfolgt es darüber, dass die Praxiskonfiguration die Trainierenden ihr Kampftraining in spezifischer Weise als kämpferisch besonders radikal und endgültig erleben lässt. (shrink)

While defining martial arts is not prerequisite to philosophizing about them, such a definition is desirable, helping us resolve disputes about the status of hard cases. At one extreme, Martínková and Parry argue that martial arts are distinguished from both close combat (as unsystematic) and combat sports (as competitive), and from warrior arts (as lethal) and martial paths (as spiritual). At the other extreme, mixed martial arts pundits and Bruce Lee speak of (...) combat sports generally as martial arts. I argue that the fine-grained taxonomy proposed by Martínková and Parry can be usefully supplemented by a broader definition, specifically the following: martial arts are systematic fighting styles and practices as ways of embodying wisdom. A possible difficulty here is that such views face the charge of overemphasizing the “philosophical” aspect of martial arts. My definition can, however, avoid this apparent problem. If martial arts essentially aim to embody wisdom, this applies no less to the (strategic) practical wisdom of The Art of War than to the (ethical) practical wisdom of the Tao Te Ching. In an extended sense, then, any systematic fighting style, including combat sports, may count as a martial art insofar as it embodies wisdom by improving practical fighting skills. (shrink)

Physical activities are generally accepted as promoting important psychological benefits. However, studies examining martial arts as a form of physical activity and mental health have exhibited many methodological limitations in the past. Additionally, recent philosophical discussion has debated whether martial arts training promotes psychological wellbeing or illness. Self-efficacy has an important relationship with mental health and may be an important mechanism underpinning the potential of martial arts training to promote mental health. This study examined (...) the effect of martial arts training on the psychological construct of self-efficacy. A total of 283 secondary school students with a mean age of 12.76 (SD = 0.68) years were recruited to complete a time-limited (10-session) martial arts intervention, which was examined using a randomised controlled trial. Univariate ANOVAs found that the intervention improved the experimental group’s self-efficacy compared to the control group, which was sustained at follow-up. Regression analysis indicated that socio-educational status moderated this outcome. These findings support the martial arts-based intervention’s potential to improve self-efficacy and promote wellbeing through physical activity. Martial arts training may be an efficacious psychosocial treatment that can be used as a complementary approach to promote mental health. (shrink)

When I was eleven, my form teacher, Mr Howard, showed some of my class how to punch. We were waiting for the rest of the class to finish changing after gym, and he took a stance that I would now call shizentai yoi and snapped his right fist forward into a head-level straight punch, pulling his left back to his side at the same time. Then he punched with his left, pulling back on his right. We all lined up in (...) our ties and sensible shoes (this was England) and copied him—left, right, left, right—and afterwards he told us that if we practised in the air with sufficient devotion for three years, then we would be able to use our punches to kill a bull with one blow. I worshipped Mr Howard (though I would sooner have died than told him that) and so, as a skinny, eleven-year-old girl, I came to believe that if I practised, I would be able to kill a bull with one blow by the time I was fourteen. This essay is about epistemic viciousness in the martial arts, and this story is illustrates just that. Though the word ‘viciousness’ normally suggests deliberate cruelty and violence, I will be using it here with the more old-fashioned meaning, possessing of vices. Vices (such as avarice, alcoholism and nail-biting) are common, and most of us struggle with a few, but ‘epistemic’ means ‘having to do with knowledge and the justification of belief’ and so epistemic viciousness is the possession of vices that make one bad at acquiring true beliefs, or give one a tendency to form false ones. My eleven-year-old self possessed the epistemic vice of gullibility and hence showed a streak of epistemic viciousness, which led to the formation of a false belief. Other kinds of epistemic vice can lead to us failing to form true beliefs when we ought to. Consider the internet-surfing karate-sensei who stumbles upon an article claiming that chocolate milk is better than water or sports drinks for promoting recovery after strenuous exercise, and describing an experiment using stationary bikes performed at the University of Indiana, purporting to support this claim.. (shrink)

The first book to focus on the intersection of Western philosophy and the Asian martial arts, _Striking Beauty_ comparatively studies the historical and philosophical traditions of martial arts practice and their ethical value in the modern world. Expanding Western philosophy's global outlook, the book forces a theoretical reckoning with the concerns of Chinese philosophy and the aesthetic and technical dimensions of martial arts practice. _Striking Beauty_ explains the relationship between Asian martial arts (...) and the Chinese philosophical traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, in addition to Sunzi's _Art of War_. It connects martial arts practice to the Western concepts of mind-body dualism and materialism, sports aesthetics, and the ethics of violence. The work ameliorates Western philosophy's hostility toward the body, emphasizing the pleasure of watching and engaging in martial arts, along with their beauty and the ethical problem of their violence. (shrink)

The past 15 years have seen an increase in interest in the martial arts by philosophers in the Anglo‐American tradition. Evidence includes two collections of essays and a book‐length study of the Asian martial arts from the perspective of western philosophy. In this article I summarize some of the most significant recent contributions to the philosophical aesthetics of the martial arts and suggest further areas for development. I begin in the first section with some (...) general considerations regarding the martial arts as arts. In the sections that follow, I consider the martial arts in conjunction with three established areas of philosophical aesthetic inquiry: dance, sport, and everyday aesthetics. In the final section I offer some additional areas for development. (shrink)

Although women have long been participants in martial arts and other contact sports, the introduction of a women’s division in the Ultimate Fighting Challenge in 2012 brought women in combat sports into the media spotlight in an arguably unprecedented way. Yet, the increasing acceptance of women’s participation in combat sports does not necessarily mean that these sports are equally accessible to people of all genders. This article, extending insights from Iris Marion Young’s “Throwing Like a Girl,” will argue (...) that the modalities of feminine bodily existence pose barriers to women’s success in combat sports. Young discusses ways in... (shrink)

Many traditional martial artists assert that MMA is not a martial art, denying that the ‘martial skill’ of MMA constitutes a ‘martial art’, and citing the sportive and entertainment aspects of MMA competitions as antithetical to the spirit of martial arts, lacking the integrity, discipline, and tradition found in martial arts. Today, these criticisms are even more relevant in light of the fact that the typical MMA fighter no longer practices a single (...) discipline but is versed in a variety of techniques and utilizes a variety of strength and conditioning modalities. In addition, with the development of social media and mainstream media’s acceptance of MMA as a legitimate sport, MMA is now more than ever about entertainment. We argue that MMA is a martial art, but it is not always practiced as one. By drawing upon Socrates’ distinction in Plato’s Gorgias between ‘knacks’ and ‘crafts’, we clarify the difference between ‘martial skills’ and ‘martial arts’. Using this distinction, we examine whether the sportive and entertainment aspects of MMA are, in fact, antithetical to the spirit of martial arts. We argue that the latter is, but the former is not. (shrink)

The main characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender who practice the different styles of bending namely, Katara, Toph, Zuko, and Aang, each draw from the martial arts style that influenced the creation of the bending style, and they also take on personality traits that are representative of the philosophical principles that the martial art is based on. This chapter explores these four main characters, the elemental categories to which they belong, the martial arts that influence (...) their bending, and how their personalities are influenced by the philosophies from which those martial arts are derived. Waterbending is based on the martial art Tajiquan, commonly known as Taiji. Earthbending is based on a particular type of Kung Fu, Hong Jia, in which the practitioner takes rooted stances to create a strong sense of balance so that they cannot be moved. Aang is the last of the airbenders after the Fire Nation's genocide. (shrink)

In both occidental and oriental traditions, philosophers have long treated the martial arts as pursuits worthy of philosophical reflection. This is the first substantial academic book to lay out the philosophical terrain within the study and understanding of the martial arts and to explore the significance of this fascinating subject for contemporary philosophy. The book is divided into three sections. The first section concerns what philosophical reflection can teach us about the martial arts, and (...) especially the nature and value of its practice. The second section deals with the other direction of the dialectical interplay between philosophy and the martial arts: how the martial arts can inform philosophical issues important in their own right. Finally, because many of the notable martial arts are of Asian origin, there are particularly close links between the arts and Asian philosophies - and Buddhism in particular - and therefore the last section is devoted to this topic. The essays in this collection deal with a wide range of philosophical issues: normative ethics, meta-ethics, aesthetics, phenomenology, the philosophy of mind, Ancient Greek and Buddhist thought. By demonstrating the very real nature of the engagement between the martial arts and philosophy, this book is essential reading for any serious student or scholar with an interest in the martial arts, Eastern philosophy, the philosophy of sport, or the study of physical culture. (shrink)

Martial-arts practice is not quite anything else: it is like sport, but is not sport; it constantly refers to and as it were cohabits with violence, but is not violent; it is dance-like but not dance. It shares a common athleticism with sports and dance, yet stands apart from both, especially through its paradoxical commitment to the external value of being an instrument of violence. My discussion seeks to illuminate martial arts practice by systematic contrast to (...) games of sport and works of performance art, especially dance. (shrink)

Nicholas Dixon’s Kantian argument for why mixed martial arts (MMA) is intrinsically immoral has received several critical responses. We offer an additional critical response. Unlike previous responses, ours does not rely on an interpretation of the categorical imperative that Dixon would find tendentious. Instead, we grant that Dixon’s views about what makes other sports consistent with the categorical imperative are correct and argue from this assumption that MMA is also consistent with the categorical imperative. Our argument focuses on (...) Dixon’s claims about certain cycling tactics, which we call ‘pain-leveraging cycling tactics’. We argue that MMA is consistent with the categorical imperative for the same sort of reasons that Dixon claims make pain-leveraging cycling tactics consistent with the categorical imperative. (shrink)

Loïc Wacquant’s article ‘Homines in Extremis’ outlines five propositions about habitus that support a broader and richer use of Bourdieu’s famous concept. His article was a response to a new edited volume by Sanchez and Spencer under the title Fighting Scholars. In this article, I support Wacquant’s argument, but suggest that he undersells habitus as a topic of and tool for inquiry. I point to previous conversations about habitus and suggest that we may learn more about social phenomena by engaging (...) the relational aspects of habitus and the social aspects of the incorporation of habitus. (shrink)

The authors show that martial arts illustrate how ethical and aesthetic value intersect within and beyond sport. While they do not aim to provide a comprehensive analysis of martial arts in this paper, they do plan to draw parallels between sport and martial arts for the purpose of recognizing how martial arts practice may be both aesthetically pleasing and grounded in ethically relevant aims. The upshot of this paper is not wholly positive, (...) however, since the authors draw attention to ethically repugnant practices connected to ideals of aesthetic beauty and other contentious sport practices as part of the analysis of the connection between aesthetic and ethical value. In light of those shared connections, martial arts might simply reinstate, rather than overcome, troublesome goals and values in sport. (shrink)

This is the first book to pay MMA the serious philosophical attention it deserves. The book explores topics such as whether MMA qualifies as a martial art, the differences between MMA and the traditional martial arts, the aesthetic dimensions of MMA, the limits of consent and choice in MMA and whether MMA can promote moral virtues.

Alexander Pho and Benjamin A. White respond to Nicolas Dixon’s critique of mixed martial arts (MMA) through a ‘companions in innocence’ argument. Taking up a counterexample that Dixon is quick to dismiss, the authors argue that MMA techniques are on a par with the ‘pain-leveraging’ tactics used by cyclists and that pressing for a moral distinction between cycling and MMA leads to absurd conclusions about other practices. So, because cycling is morally permissible, MMA is morally permissible. This companions (...) in innocence argument fails. But cycling can be used to develop a better, though only partial, defense of MMA. (shrink)

MMA fighting in a competition is not necessarily wrong and is often, as far as we can tell, permissible. Our argument has two premises. First, if an act does not infringe on anyone’s moral right or violate another side-constraint, then it is morally permissible. Second, MMA-violence does not infringe on anyone’s moral right or violate another side-constraint. The first premise rested on two assumptions. First, if a person does a wrong act, then he wrongs someone. Second, if one person wrongs (...) a second, then the first infringes on the second’s right. We then looked at Nicholas Dixon’s powerful Kantian argument that MMA fighting is wrong. (shrink)

Transformation of the sparrow and the butterfly -- Meeting the gods of poverty in a dream -- The greatest joys of the cicada and its cast-off shell -- The owl's understanding -- The centipede questions the snake -- The toad's way of the gods -- The mysterious technique of the cat -- Afterword by William Scott Wilson.

This paper discusses the impact of East Asian philosophical ideas on the origins and development of martial arts. The article argues that the ideas of Daoist philosophy were developed into ‘soft styles’ or ‘internal schools’ that are based on the doctrine of ‘wuwei’ (action through non-action, effortless action) which follows the path of Yin. These styles are in opposition to ‘external’ or ‘hard styles’ of martial arts that follow the path of Yang. Daoist philosophy of ‘ziran’ (...) (naturalness, spontaneity) influenced ‘animal’ or ‘imitation styles’ and the paradigm of natural, unplanned, and unforced combat movements. The influence of Buddhism on martial arts is found in techniques of mental tranquillity training for the extreme conditions of combat. The work also shows the significance of Confucianism for the formation of a code of honor for warriors, which includes the ethics of duty and respect. (shrink)