The Object of Study in Martial Arts and Combat Sports Research – Contributions to a Complex Whole

Abstract

Sport is social and, in martial arts and combat sports, sociology and philosophy, at pair with other sciences, contribute to the theoretical core of sport science studies. Wushu, Wrestling, Taekwondo, Sumo, Sambo, Muaythai, Kickboxing, Kendō, Karate, Judō, Ju-jitsu, Fencing, Boxing and Aikidō are sports integrated in GAISF. A large part of them became institutionalized in Asian countries during end of XIX century and earlier XX century, leaded by Japan with Budō and Sumo. Other ones came from Europe and become part of program in earlier Olympic Games, like Fencing or Boxing. All of them maintain certain noted relationships with fighting techniques used in real fight. But ritualizing the dead with institutionalized rules, the objective of the symbolic fight becomes not killing opponent, rather than personal transcendence motivated by practice of fighting actions with common construction or norms, values and symbols on accepted rules, looking for the visibility of a win and a loose, symbolizing the life and dead. Commonly we found general references to these symbolic and ritualized contexts of human culture as “Martial”, “Fighting”, “Combat”, etc., mixed with “Arts”, “Sports”, “Activities”… Some times we found also on such denominations precisions as “Traditional”, “Classical”, “Modern” or even “Sportive”… Similar multi-references are usual with “Sport”, “Physical”, etc., mixed with “Education”, “Culture”, “Activities”, “Science”… And names as “Kinesiology”, “Kineantropology”, “Kinetics”, “Movement”, “Motricity”, etc., become references for models in institutions, courses, conferences, etc. This paper contributes to reflecting and understanding the “general system” [Bachelard 1938, p. 11], and the “complex whole” [Ziman 2000, p. x]. We will present the construction of this broad model for object of study in Martial Arts and Combat Sports as a subsystem of another one: Sport as complex context of Human Motricity.

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