Northeast Asian Modern Martial Arts: An Embodied Synthesis of Virtue Ethics and Deontology

Abstract

Moral philosophy has been dominated by three traditions: virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontology. This paper challenges two common assumptions behind these ethical outlooks: their place of origin (the West) and their location of ethical conduct (the mind). Grounded in the broader comparative philosophical perspective, the paper draws on the Asian martial arts to advance the argument for the ‘moral philosophy of the body’. Asian martial arts can thus be conceived of as a synthesized moral tradition of virtue ethics and deontology, and this synthesis is arrived at through embodied practices rather than rational contemplation.