2023, Volume 19
Although "self-defence" is an individual case of human defensive struggle and the object of research of the specific sciences dedicated to struggle, it also is a term borrowed by other categories of sciences classified by WoS
Artur Kruszewski1, Bartłomiej Gąsienica Walczak2
1Department of Individual Sports, Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
2Health Institute, Podhale State College of Applied Sciences in Nowy Targ, Nowy Targ, Poland
Author for correspondence: Artur Kruszewski; Department of Individual Sports, Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; email: artur.kruszewski@awf.edu.pl
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Abstract
Background and Study Aim: This review was inspired by the content of a dialogue conducted by a science of martial arts expert with artificial intelligence on the topic of self-defence (2022) from the perspective of the human right to defend oneself or people at risk of attack by an aggressor. The aim of the paper is to address the question: is the term "self-defence" used in the field of sciences that do not study the phenomenon of individual defence against human aggression and violence, and if so, how common is this phenomenon?
Material and Methods: The basic criterion of the narrative review was the words "self-defiance" or "self-defense" used in the title of the publication evaluated by the Web of Science (WoS) literature database from the earliest date to March 2023. The results of the observations were grouped according to the principle from the general to the specific (at the poles of the continuum are the leader and the non-citation of the work). The second criterion for grouping observation results is the separation of papers belonging to several categories of sciences according to WoS standards (collective) from those qualifying for only one category (separate). A group of works cited in sport science was distinguished independently from the collective or separate categories.
Results: The words "self-defence" or "self-defense" were used in WoS from 1902 to March 2023 in 1,568 publications of which 55.5% are cited, while the others (n = 715) are not cited once. The leader in citations (n = 970) are papers published in journals classified in the collective category (psychology experimental and psychology social); 22 papers were found, where the only title is the term "self-defence" or "self-defense" of which only 4 papers were cited (leader 248 times). The citation leader of category sport science (n = 43) is paradoxically the paper dedicated to Japan Self-Defence Force. The citation total of the 45 category sport science papers is 382.
Conclusions: Since it is reasonable to accept the year 2010 as the recognition of the science of martial arts as a separate sub-discipline that, among other things, studies self-defence in the context of counteracting aggression and physical violence of people by applying techniques from different cultures, different martial arts and styles, the frequent use of the term self-defence" (self-defense)" by authors of works classified in various categories of sciences means, that this term is the most appropriate one to use when dealing with specific issues. It also shows how important this phenomenon is in many other areas of reality. Thus, another challenge is to know about the specifics of these issues in order to formulate implications having to do with the general question: what knowledge about the struggle phenomenon in its broadest sense escapes the perception of researchers of these specific issues, which perhaps determines that many of them still remain unresolved? The probability of giving the right answer to such a question increases with the complementary use of the specific knowledge of the issue being addressed with the methodological categories of the latest of the sciences dedicated to struggle – innovative agonology.
Key words: science of martial arts, innovative agonology, complementary approach