Challenge, Enhancement & Martial Arts

Daniel Faggella uses technology to reevaluate what it is to be challenged.

- Daniel Faggella

I began taking martial arts seriously, particularly Brazilian jiu-jitsu, right around the time I started to take philosophy seriously. The two were my first genuine tools of self exploration, and though I don’t see them as necessarily connected, it’s been interesting to me to use the martial arts spirit as a kind of lens to explore or test philosophical ideas. So while exploring the philosophical ramifications of technological and biochemical enhancements of the human body, I have often wondered how my experiences in the martial arts might have affected my conception of what ‘enhancement’ implies.

First I want to stress that I don’t see practicing a martial art as an inherently higher activity than, say, golf or painting. However, unlike many activities, martial arts usually involve the learning of moral standards alongside the acquisition of physical skills. Although these moral codes may not be articulated in the same way from one martial art to the next, some underlying values of ‘the martial way’ appear more consistently than others. The value I’ve decided to explore here, in the context of human enhancement, is the concept of challenge in human life, and how it relates to productive and fulfilled living. The ability to overcome difficulties and opponents is a core aim of nearly every system of martial arts. Crucially, the obstacles to overcome include our own limitations. Self-surpassing in physical and mental training is a hallmark of all martial arts. Forrest Morgan’s 1992 book The Martial Way, probably the most popular modern text on the values and lifestyle of the martial arts, refers to the positive confrontation of challenges as ‘acknowledging your warriorship’.

Challenge & Human Enhancement