Shades of Grey
or
Johnny d'Thesis Meets Mary Jane McAntithesis
I’m going to borrow a couple terms from Hegel, and give them
a twist to have a particular meaning in the context of studying hoplology,
though you may find this applicable to other subjects as well: thesis,
antithesis and synthesis.
Thesis.
Thesis is simply a stated proposition. For our purposes the
thesis is a particular martial art or martial art style, being a proposition
about how one should fight. Shotokan karate, Uechi-ryu karate, Spanish rapier,
German longsword and the Italian School of fencing are examples.
There’s an old saying: when the only tool you have is a
hammer, you tend to treat everything as if it were a nail. That’s stylism in a
nutshell.
A “stylist” is a person who practices a given “tradition,” (a
charitable word for “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”) and learns
to view the combat world through the eyes of that “tradition.” Extremely dogmatic, stylism is
characterized by high degree of authoritarianism, with a religious reverence
for the “master” who founded it, in proportion to how long that master has been
deceased. If the master committed anything to print, that work is considered a
holy book. Stylists will adopt the terminology of the master, no matter how obscure,
and no matter what language he spoke, or what language they, themselves, speak. If he is alive, a stylist may mimic the
master’s speech or accent. They may adopt the master’s style of dress, or, at
least, attempt to mimic that of his time and place. The style is seen as
something that unchangeable, something to be kept “pure.” Techniques are
neither added nor removed from the repertoire. Typically, because the stylist is convinced that his own
particular style is superior to all others, there is antipathy and disdain for
other styles, leading to rivalry between them, a characteristic stylism shares
with nationalism, and one that forms the plot of countless low-budget kung-fu
movies. Other “styles” are considered emotionally instead of rationally, and followers
of other styles are subjected to all manner of vilification, ridicule, derision
and scorn, both stylistically and personally, consistent with the maxim: “any
stigma to beat a dogma.”
Stylism is very common to the youngest, to the least
experienced, and to the least morally mature students studying their very first
“style.” In Maslovian terms, while
undertaking to study any particular style may originate with survival and/or
safety needs, the dedication to a style is rooted firmly in social and esteem
needs. Stylists strongly identify as a member of they style in-group and strive
for success and recognition within that group. Lawrence Kohlberg would probably
rank stylists at the third and fourth stages of moral reasoning, typical of
adolescence.
Antithesis.
Black/white. Soft/hard. Heavy/light. Right/wrong.
Ugly/beautiful. All of these are
pairs of words in which one is the antithesis, or the opposite, of each other. This
is a very either/or, all-or-nothing way of looking at things, but it does seem
reasonable, doesn’t it? A thing is
or it is not.
Antithesis, for Hegel, is the negation of a thesis, or a
reaction to a given proposition. I
use “antithesis” to refer to certain stage of, or approach to learning that focuses on the differences between
things, how they are unlike.
Perhaps you’ve been acquainted with an adolescent who fell
in and out of “love” about every twenty minutes. And the new love was always
the most perfect, the most beautiful, while the previous perfect love was now
“just an infatuation, and the previous “most beautiful,” was now observed to
have an unsightly mole, instead of a “beauty mark,” and knobby knees, and an
irritating laugh…
Antithetical thinking says that two different things cannot
be the same thing, and if not the same thing, then they must be opposites.
When a stylist is forced to learn a new style, it’s a common
response for the stylist simply to shift his fanaticism from his previous style
to his new one. His previous “great master” may now be seen as false prophet
while the new master is the messiah of the true faith. Alternatively, the
stylist may conceive of the new style as something so completely “different”
from his original faith (no matter how alike they may actually be) that it is
another thesis rather than an antithesis. This helps to dispel -- or, at least suppress -- any
cognitive dissonance arising from contradictions between two true faiths. Too that end it’s helpful if the new
religion has it’s own unique language, costume and rituals.
While still motivated by social and esteem needs, belonging
and success, the student may, at this point, be grudgingly dragged toward
Kohlberg’s stage five.
The antithesian is a person who proudly proclaims he is
master wheelman, having studied many different driving arts including: red
cars, blue cars, white, cars grey cars, and black cars. In the anthesis arena you will find the
person who claims black belts in a half-dozen different styles of karate, or
someone professes to be a master of both the Italian and the French Schools of
Fencing, both German and Italian longsword, both Italian and Hungarian sabre,
or perhaps, both English and western, as well as bareback riding.
Synthesis
“A fencing master is someone you can put in a room with a
weapon he’s never seen before, and by the end of the day he can teach you how
to use it effectively.” (Rev. Steve Cook, Maitre d’Armes)
*****
Synthesis, Hegel says, reconciles thesis and antithesis by
recognizing their common truths.
I’d like to take that a bit further --- quite a bit. I propose that
synthesis is an approach that recognizes foundational principles common to
superficially different things, focuses on the similarities between things
instead of on their differences, and integrates seemingly disparate things into
a coherent whole. Synthesis sees
individual things neither as unique an independent, nor as part of mutually
exclusive antithetical pairs, but rather as complimentary pieces of a larger
puzzle.
Borrowing from the Yin and Yang user guide in the appendices
of Chinese Philosophy for Dummies. I propose that every combat situation, no
matter how similar to another, is unique. And every combat situation, no matter
how unique, is similar to others. For the synthesist, paradox is the highest
for of truth. Things aren’t black OR white, things are black AND white.
To the true “master” of combat, all styles are valid, and
all are limited. Every technique taken from whatever “tradition” discipline or
style is assessed by simple criteria: it either works or it doesn’t – in a
given tactical situation. Every
technique is just another tool in the fighter’s toolbox, and the question isn’t
what’s the right one or wrong one, but rather simply what tool is best suited
for this particular task? From follows function.
One element of synthesis is the realization that “styles”
don’t make great fighters; great fighters make styles. The developed example of an inferior
principle can exceed the undeveloped example of a superior principle. In this
case, an excellent practitioner of an inferior style can beat a poor
practitioner of a theoretically superior style.
Synthesis corresponds to Maslov’s
self-actualization needs and to Kohlberg’s sixth and highest stage of moral
reasoning. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth,
less concerned with the opinions of others, and interested fulfilling their
potential. Morally mature people practice moral reasoning using
universal ethical principles.
It is worth noting that, in past times, it was not uncommon
for a fencing master to also teach dancing or horsemanship. Chevalier St.
George is but one example of an excellent swordsman who was also an
accomplished musician. Is it possible that even such diverse activities as
these might share certain principles?
The answer is “yes.”
And “no.”
- aac
