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Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology

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Abstract - Philosophies of martial arts and their pedagogical consequences

From the perspectives of both philosophical anthropology and humanistic theory of martial arts, the authors discuss the possible values and relevance of the traditional warrior pathways of eastern Asian martial arts to contemporary western society. They will also refer to other theoretical concepts of martial arts philosophy, especially the normative ethical practices usually associated with them. The pedagogical implications of the use of a variety of axiological traditional martial arts have been demonstrated time and time again in many countries around the world, but especially in those countries in eastern and south eastern Asia. The traditional pathways and ethical codes of martial arts (such as Japanese Bushido) are a universal cultural heritage full of potential from which today’s physical education pedagogy could and, indeed, should draw.
The philosophy of martial arts is both a practice of selected axionormative systems determining lifestyles and a description of the internalization of certain important disciplines, morals and values. There is also an emerging philosophical sub-discipline as a result of the warriors’ pathway anthropology [Cynarski 2012a, 2013a, c].
Finally, this “anthropology” serves as a superior approach to the area of knowledge and scientific disciplines described as martial arts and sciences. In particular, it provides for the possibility of practical application to the varying practices of martial arts pedagogy [cf. Cynarski, Obodyński, Zeng 2012; Cynarski 2013b].