This martial arts books explores the role of martial philosophy and history in personal character development. These are a few of the virtues of the ideal warrior or martial artist. But from whence do these virtues arise? Are they inherent, or can they be cultivated and taught? If so, how?Martial Virtues explores the role of martial arts in character development. It focuses on the spiritual aspects of martial arts training, attempting to answer the question of what it means to be a good warrior.In this ground-breaking analysis, Charles Hackney draws from the psychological literature on the development of positive character traits and from the lives and experiences of admirable warriors of fact and fiction. He analyzes how the virtues of ancient and modern warriors can be developed by practicing the martial arts. Using examples from the ancient Greeks to the samurai practitioners of Bushido, from Confucius to Bruce Lee, Martial Virtues scrutinizes such qualities as courage, wisdom, justice and benevolence in turn, employing the lessons of modern psychology to understand how these virtues can be cultivated within ourselves and others.
