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Articles

Challenge, Enhancement & Martial Arts

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

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.

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