art, sport, science what?

I think a key issue in the conversation that we have been missing, at least in the mainstream is proper definitions.

What is a martial art?

I define it in the looses terms imaginable. where it is the practice of anything military in nature as a discipline. lets look at a dictionary.

mar·tial   /ˈmɑrʃəl/ Show Spelled[mahr-shuhl] Show IPA
adjective
1. inclined or disposed to war; warlike: The ancient Romans were a martial people.
2. of, suitable for, or associated with war or the armed forces: martial music.
3. characteristic of or befitting a warrior: a martial stride.

art1    /ɑrt/ Show Spelled[ahrt] Show IPA
noun
1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.
3. a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.
4. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.
5. any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art.

I think we could could combine martial with the 3rd definition and art with definition 1 and 3. fusing them int this...

An expression of warlike principles made appealing and benefitting the warrior with more than ordinary significance.
What about sports?

sport   /spɔrt, spoʊrt/ Show Spelled[spawrt, spohrt] Show IPA
noun
1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
4. jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously.
5. mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him.

Basically I think it is obvious that the first definition is the subject.
I also find it consistent that a sport may be an expression of war like principles. These two concepts (sports and martial arts are can be the same and not the same)

They are the same when the expression of warlike principles is an atheletic activity. But if they are independent of this then they are not.

Some martial artists restrict the idea to hand to hand combat, or killing, or even restrict it to those who include eastern mysticism.

But I think this is a consistent meaning for martial arts.
For instance I understand american football to be a martial arts sport. many martial artist would laught at this. Yet they would revear bushido, which understands sitting down with a gigantic long bo as a martial art. As if we always have such a long bow and they would be ready if one of the new york Giants was attacking them from the side! LOL

Football should be defined as a matial arts sport because it primarily teaches you military skills in working with a team. secondly it teaches you fighting skills with a helmut and gives you some limited hand to hand techniques. Not to mention that the training prepares you for a fight.

But what of science?
sci·ence   /ˈsaɪəns/ Show Spelled[sahy-uhns] Show IPA
noun
1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: the mathematical sciences.
2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.
3. any of the branches of natural or physical science.
4. systematized knowledge in general.
5. knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

A lot of modern military groups like to think of their figting systems as a science. and of course muhammad ali would refer to boxing as a sweet science.
Science definitely has plenty of use in martial arts. basic priniciples of kinesthesiology and biology are of great use, as well as physics.

The difficulty with defining martial arts actually as a science in itself is the fact there is no truly solid empirical data. Fighting is an extremely subjective thing. If it could be a science it would be a very soft science. When you deal with fighting you have different environments, different attackers, different weapons, different defenders, different social circumstances. It is incredibly subjective and you can not ground very much in universal fact.

The best you can hope for is philosophical principles. Of course theology interacts with philosophy and so that's why I feel this blog should have some success! ;)